MEMORIALITIS

MEMORIALITIS
by Timothy Rollins, Editor and Publisher

June 10, 2002

Timothy McVeigh (1968-2001) (AP) With the recent symbolic end of clean-up efforts at Ground Zero of where the World Trade Center in New York used to be, there is talk of putting a memorial in place on the ground where the towers once stood. Now do not get me wrong here. I do believe there should be memorials put in place where there were large losses of life. We have the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, and having been there, it is indeed quite a sobering sight. Another case of a memorial that was well done was that of the one put in place in Oklahoma City after the Alfred Murrah Federal Building was blown up by the now executed and totally unlamented Timothy McVeigh (right).

There are times however, where I think it has gone too far. Call me call callous if you want, brand me insensitive if you wish - I really don't care; but after 22 people were gunned down at the McDonald's in San Ysidro, California in the summer of 1984, McDonald's bowed to community pressure and immediately tore down the restaurant and built a new one at a different location. The fact is, a more fitting tribute would have been a plaque with names and photographs of those who died. Not only would have it been the ultimate tribute, it would have also been the ultimate denial of victory to the shooter.

World Trade Center Towers #1 and #2 at Impact (AP) Which brings me to the World Trade Center in New York. We now have this hellacious hole in the ground and technology that is 35 years newer than when the original towers (left) were built. As such, it should be easier to get new towers built that are safer and more advanced using current 21st-Century technology. What's more, to suggest that forfeiting prime real estate in the world's leading financial district is appropriate for the sake of a "memorial" is sheer lunacy, when an appropriate plaque or memorial in the lobby such as a wall of honor with the names of those who died will more than suffice.

With plans already announced for the reconstruction of World Trade Center 7 scheduled for groundbreaking on September 11th - the one year anniversary of the attack, we need to take a look at perhaps having a groundbreaking for two new towers identical to the ones that fell on that day of infamy, and I submit this for two reasons: First, I say this because of the critical need for office space in New York; and second, failure to do so will give the terrorists a major victory in their declared war against the United States, the West and our way of life. We need to remember that they declared war on us, and that we need to see this through to the end. Failure to do so will mark us as cowards to not only the American people, but to the rest of the world as well. It will make us more of a laughingstock than when we were under former President Bill Clinton and his escapades with his bimbos de jour.

In addition to the newer towers replacing the old ones, we need to eliminate the outer observation deck on Tower #2 and replace it with an anti-aircraft battery manned around the clock by an air defense artillery platoon of one officer and 12 enlisted personnel. If an approaching aircraft comes within 25 miles of the tower and is not within the prescribed landing pattern for either LaGuardia, Kennedy or Newark airports, then a warning would be broadcast in Arabic, Farsi, English and a host of other languages. If they broke the 20-mile boundary without changing their course, then they would be fired upon. It is far better that 44 or 144 people die in a Class A aircraft mishap - even by missile fire than to have a repeat of September 11th. I defy anyone to disagree with me.

Memorials are indeed appropriate to the fallen. However, this obsession of forever forfeiting large pieces of prime real estate solely for the sake of erecting monuments is beyond that which is appropriate. What are needed are living monuments for the fallen, and I cannot help but think that were they here today - that the victims of the WTC as well as those who died at the Pentagon, that they would want for us to remember them not for how they died, but for how they lived.

And that is the real joy in remembrance - both here and hereafter. ***

Photo of Timothy Rollins courtesy of staff files
Photo of Timothy McVeigh (1968-2001) courtesy of the Associated Press
Photo of Twin Towers of World Trade Center at impact courtesy of the Associated Press