The 9/11 memorial museum in New York is finally open. And as with everything involving 9/11, there's controversy. This time, it's the decision to inter the unidentified remains of the victims at the memorial at ground zero, under the museum.
Of course, it's hard to know what to do with unidentified remains, since you don't know which family members to ask. But you could poll all the families of the unidentified and see what most of them want to do. They've made it clear they'd rather the remains be interred somewhere else, somewhere they could directly visit, and some place that had no commercial component, unlike the 9/11 museum which will have the revenue-generating gift shop that's de rigueur in today's museum.
That brings up a point I've noticed for a while about September 11th: it seems to have a greater emotional hold on people who are further from it. New Yorkers never seemed as scared of further terrorist actions as others did. The harshest anti-terror measures got their biggest support from the right, which had its strongest support in rural areas, which were least likely to be targeted. And I always was amazed that the families of the victims seemed less angry, and felt less need for revenge than others. And now it's those families who would like a low-key, out of the way remembrance, whole those indirectly affected are the ones turning the site into a mausoleum.
I guess this is an indication that the biggest reason 9/11 had such an effect was not the sheer death toll, but the way it took away a sense of safety from American society. Thus, it's those of us with no direct connection that still feel the need to heal ourselves with a grand gesture, while the families directly affected just want to privately grieve as anyone suffering a loss would.
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