It's All My Fault...

Friday, October 5th, 2001

On my way to work today, I passed a large group of kids, probably 60 or 70 of them, with chaperons, hanging out on the sidewalk around the subway station stairs. All were in blue T-shirts, holding flowers. I just passed by them, wondering what they were doing in my area of Queens.

As it turns out, they were in my area of Queens to catch the subway into the city. As I stood on the platform waiting for the train, the entire blue-shirted lot of them showed up. They were obviously tourists. They were so engaged in taking pictures of a train coming into the station from the other direction that they were hanging out over the edge of the platform, and almost got hit by the train coming from behind them. New York has a death because of this every few years. I was thinking of escaping to a less blue part of the platform, when the train actually showed up.

As the train was pulling in, I took the time to really look at their T-shirts: Blue, with white lettering in a small symbol on the front said: "Michigan Prays for New York".

Two girls struck up a conversation with me, wondering when they would get to the subway (about half the subway lines outside of Manhattan run on elevated structures), and how fast did this thing actually move, anyway. I cleared up their misconceptions, and asked them about what they were in the city to see and do.

They were in the city to "help New Yorkers understand why god did this to them". They didn't actually use the words "It is all your fault", but I figure they got close enough.

The irony of this is that New York City is no less devoutly spiritual than any other place in the country. Many inhabitants are probably more so than the rest of the country, because quite a few are first or second generation immigrants, from parts of the world where church isn't something you treat like a social club. I'm not going to claim that a higher percentage of people go to church every Sunday in New York than in any other part of the country. But to assume that New York is full of godless heathens is inexcusable arrogance and ignorance of the highest order.

The part that really offends me about this is the attitude that two wrongs make a right. Wrong number one: being a godless heathen, or at least living near them. Wrong number two: murdering a few thousand innocent people who's only crime was to show up to work that day (especially the rescue workers) and are just as likely to be good churchgoing people as the kids on the subway with me, just to prove a point.

Those who know me well know that while I am not religious, I am not against religion when it is carried out responsibly. It is possible to be both religious and intelligent, the two aren't mutually exclusive. My father is a shining example. But being both religious and evil also aren't mutually exclusive. As much as religious people would like to believe, believing in a god, doesn't automatically make you Good.

But this is a prime example of religion not being used responsibly. It is in fact Evil. The sad part is this is Evil perpetrated by children at the instruction of adults.

I would not have been offended by this whole thing if these kids had actually been in the city to help somehow. But in fact they were here to accost people on the streets. I shudder to think what happens the first time someone from this group actually tells a New Yorker, or even worse yet another tourist, that they are responsible for 9/11 because god had to teach them a lesson. This is more damage than good.

I can't think of anything more prideful, more hurtful, more ignorant, more arrogant, or more shameful, than what these kids came here to do. I hope they learn a lesson about the evil of their ways. But I expect they've already been told to ignore that lesson, since it isn't the one their elders probably brought them here for.

I tried to do my part but I don't think it worked. And the world is a sadder place for my failure.