When society allows the manipulation of a sincerely earnest event, during a time when the people of this country long for relief; my inner being becomes greatly enraged. "Serious people with serious purpose": Kathleen Parker has summed the reaction of our society on 9-11-01 as a whole. Political correctness was nowhere insight when the thousands of people united with tremendous strength, absent of ethnics and colors, to overcome the mortal terror of losing our freedom. Everything has a symbolic meaning in one way or another, but the truth has only one-reality. Symbolizing the memorable photo of three New York City firefighters raising the American flag atop a pile of rubble at Ground Zero into a statue honoring the 343 fellow firefighters this country lost on 9-11 is a true show of Americanism, as long as this statue duplicates the actual photographic event. Kathleen Parker in, "Statue puts symbolism over truth", The Peoria Journal Star, Section A. 2, expresses her opinions on symbolism over truth; I support her opinions fully, based on my beliefs and values of truth always being put first. Changing the reflection of three firefighters to symbolize the ethnic content in the fire department would be an unmerciful attempt to rob these men of the recognition for their loyalty, bravery, and respect that they deserve and a gross effort to take away their true God given identities.
Haulk 2.
With one notable difference. The three firefighters are still men (an oversight, I'm sure), but they are no longer white (Parker 2002). Three white men now become white, black, and Hispanic. Discrimination is evident by the idea of changing these men from white men to other ethnics and colors. Had the men been black, the outcome very well may have been different. Undeniably, this is a show of ethnics over honor, these three firefighters found a way to honor the many lives that were taken on 9-11 and the politically correct have found a way to horn in and steal the true meaning of this act for the sole purpose of symbolizing the ethnicities within the fire department.