Mosque to be Built Near Ground Zero

In my own opinion, as a New Yorker, the strongest anti-mosque location sentiment in New York is based on the commiserating with the families of the police and firemen that lost their lives on 9/11. You see, New Yorkers have the highest regard for its police and fireman, and the loss of their lives is taken in a personal way, that might be different than commiserating with the loss of the civilians on 9/11, as sad as that was.

Their was a French film crew, that by chance was filming a documentary in that area about a fire station, on 9/11. They went to the scene, and shot film that became a PBS documentary. This film brought home the sadness of the mission the firefighters were about to face.

So, while youse guys have your opinion, and reside here and there, I think you should understand that native New Yorkers are mostly against the location of the mosque for reasons that transcend any feelings about Muslims. It seems to be based on feelings about the sanctity of the area, for the memory of the first responders. I would not expect non-New Yorkers, or New Yorkers that are transplants from somewhere else, to really feel these feelings. Tomorrow, Sunday, 8/22/10 there will be a rally by the Burlington Coat factory building (where the mosque would now be located) for those that would prefer the mosque be located elsewhere. So, guys, let us see on the nightly news tomorrow, how many people came, and who came.

You do realize that they don't want to build the mosque at "ground zero", right? It is a couple blocks away.

Cemetery? Final resting place? You do realize that most everything blew away in the wind and bits and pieces of everything would be all over the city. Right?

... sometimes I believe that emotion should trump logic.

I'm in Manhattan and can assure you the majority of people in Manhattan support the construction of the Park Place mosque at that location. That's numbers, not emotions.

What the **** is an 'unsubstantiated opinion'?

A Green Field

If there is to be a memorial, let it not be of stone and steel. Fly no flag above it, for it is not the possession of a nation but a sorrow shared with the world. Let it be a green field, with trees and flowers. Let there be paths that wind through the shade. Put out park benches where old people can sun in the springtime, and a pond where children can skate in the winter. Beneath this field will lie entombed forever some of the victims of September 11. It is not where they thought to end their lives.
Like the sailors of the battleship Arizona, they rest where they fell. Let this field stretch from one end of the destruction to the other. Let this open space among the towers mark the emptiness in our hearts. But do not make it a sad place. Give it no name. Let people think of it as the green field. Every living thing that is planted here will show faith in the future. Let students from all lands take a sunny corner of the field and plant a crop there. Perhaps corn, our native grain.
Let the harvest be shared all over the world, with friends and enemies, because that is the teaching of our religions. Let the harvest show that life prevails over death, and let the sharing show that we love our neighbors. Do not build again on this place. No building can stand here. No building, no statue, no column, no arch, no symbol, no name, no date, no statement. Just the comfort of the earth, to remind us that we share it.

Not to you, it isn't [about 9/11]. Clearly, it is to others.

Not to you, it isn't. Clearly, it is to others.

It is customary to read threads before charging in with unsubstantiated opinions.