HOLE IN THE GROUND

So, it's been a year since the Bush administration allowed New Orleans to be decimated by Hurricane Katrina. The incompetence of the Federal as well as the local government is staggering, as almost 2,000 people died and an entire city was demolished. So the mayor was asked why the city wasn't built back up already. Frustrated, he responded, ""You guys in New York can’t get a hole in the ground fixed and it’s five years later. So let’s be fair."

Is that harsh? Yup. Is it true? Yup.

I know I'm in the minority and most people will think I'm evil, but too bad. We have a strange obsession with memorializing the dead. My opinion is that when we die, the body is a useless piece of garbage. I want to be cremated when I die so we don't waste more cemetary space that can be better used for farming or housing. The idea that "ground zero" is hallowed ground is, to me, ludicrous. People died there and it was horrible. Each of those families should grieve in their own private way. Putting up a memorial of some kind is a nice gesture. But trying to make all 3000 families happy? Forget it. Half of them want it one way, the other half wants it the other way, and they get all pissy when someone shows them a design they don't like. No offense, but put up a plaque with their names, like the Vietnam memorial and put the towers back up there, or whatever else would better serve the city. What makes it holy ground? People dying there? If every spot on Earth that people were killed on became hallowed and un-developeable, we'd have no country left. "Ground zero" is in the middle of New York Friggin City. That space can be way better utilized than with a giant water fountain.

I see memorials up all over the place, where auto accidents have claimed innocent lives. It's horrible. I lost a brother to an auto accident. But I have no interest in enshrining that random piece of property. I keep my feelings about the death private, or within my circle of family and friends. I don't need to spend money on flowers and signs to show everyone my feelings. And these roadside memorials get refreshed every month, every year, forever. Why? I just don't understand it. I'm not even positive where my brother died. It doesn't matter to me. The intersection is simply a road that cars drive on, just like every other road. I don't need to visit his grave or the place where he died. It seems unhealthy to me to obsess over the death spot of a loved one.

I know I sound insensitive and cruel, but once a person dies, the only thing left is the memory they made in your brain. Their body is not the person you knew. To have an embalmed body at a funeral is crazy to me. It's like you're pretending they're not dead. "Look! He still looks the same!"

As I said, I know I'm in the minority. I haven't met one person who agrees with me on this. Whatever.