In attacking Park51, the Cordoba Initiative's Islamic cultural center, the Geller-Palin-Gingrich-Beck-FOX syndicate has suddenly hallowed an old Burlington Coat Factory that lies two blocks from Ground Zero. Yet it appears that Ground Zero itself is suffering their neglect. They've failed to condemn the tacky souvenir stand and Burger King across the street from it, or the porn shops closer than Park51. Of course, this sudden reverence for one spot near Ground Zero is crass political opportunism. But there are things worth hallowing that the syndicate won't mention because these things don't serve their nefarious purposes.
I was in New York in October 2001, while rubble was being cleared from Ground Zero. A minister volunteering at the site invited me to visit St. Paul's Chapel. Built in the mid-eighteenth century, it sits right next to where workers, day and night, labored to clear that vast, smoldering pile of rubble. The Chapel had been closed to the public so that it could be dedicated to providing care for the workers. Inside, the midday din of the street was replaced by whispered voices and quiet footsteps. A few people were sleeping on cots; others ate from plates of hot food provided by volunteer chefs. In a corner, medical workers waited to dispense medical aid, and nearby, a couple of massage therapists worked on exhausted bodies. Near the altar, tucked into the shadows, I saw two men in chairs talking softly; one was weeping quietly.
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