Hallowed Ground
Textbooks call America the "melting pot," but the people of this nation know that
to be false. It has risen to its global status because of the amazing ability of its settlers
from opposite sides of the world to come together in times of need. They willingly bring
their unique backgrounds, traits, and skills to the table to create a world superpower, and
they do not attempt to "melt" into the crowd. It was this astounding set of people that
bonded together after the attacks on September 11, 2001, and it is this astounding set of
people that continues to feel the hurt and loss from that dark time. Trepidation still
dwindles in the hearts of those who saw and smelled the smoke that day, but the United
States cannot abandon the principles of equality and freedom on which it was founded
simply because there is still fear. Thus, while individual communities should have the
power to create “sensitivity zones” around scenes of violence, the proposed mosque near
the Pentagon should be built while conforming to the County’s lighting mandate, but not
the requirement of paid police officers or a September 11th monument.
After the attacks on the World Trade Center, citizens began to distrust the
followers of the Muslim religion. Distrust is inescapable, but discrimination is truly the
opposite. The proposal of the mosque to be built near the Pentagon was not out of the
question or obscene, yet once a violent crime has been committed in an area, the
surrounding community should have the right to maintain a "sensitivity zone." These are
the people who most need to feel secure in their beds at night after such horrific events,
and these are the people more capable of better understanding the perpetrators of the
crime so that they can form the best decisions to make the streets safe again. The scale of
the violence committed should also determine how large the "sensitivity zone" should be
and what it is, or is not, allowed to contain. No one but the people who live in the
affected area can understand what they go through and the necessary measures to keep
their neighbors safe at night.
One action that does keep people safe at night, however, is street and parking lot
lighting. The County's requirement of bright lighting in religious institution parking lots
does not infringe upon their right to freely exercise their religion. They are in no way
keeping the congregations from attending services, and in fact, they have probably saved
the lives and limbs of its members who will inevitably fall and break hips in poorly lit
parking lots.
Because one of this nation's founding principles was freedom of religion, the right
of the government to impose restrictions on religious property should be minimal. One of
the only causes for a restriction like this to occur should be if a specific member of a
specific house of worship's congregation has committed a serious crime. The government
should have strong reason to believe that the restrictions would be for the congregation's
safety, and if the government shuts down their place of worship, then it must also secure
a replacement for them in the meantime.
Even though the County's parking lot mandate was for the benefit of the people,
its requirement for the congregation to pay for two full-time, patrolling police officers is
not. A recession has plagued the United States for years now, and their money that would
be used to pay those officers is better spent elsewhere. The congregation itself offered to
pay for road alterations to correct increased traffic that their mosque would cause, and
that is by far a better investment of time and funds for the community as a whole.
Also, forcing the congregation to pay for a memorial to the victims of September
11th is unwarranted and wasteful. Although a memorial to that cause is respected and
understandable, the worshippers had nothing to do with the attacks. They do not owe the
victims or their families a debt, and making them pay for a deed which they did not
commit would only encourage bad feelings between the congregation and the County's
government.
America never has been and never will be a nation of tyranny. The perseverance
of its people and its government towards individual rights and religious freedom make
that impossible. Although it is natural to feel and respond to fear, discrimination does not
have to be the result of that fear. The "mixing pot" will continue to spin 'round and life in
the United States will remain ever-changing. Yet, as long as it can change with the times
and still keep in sight the values with which it first began, it will stand the test of time and
continue to serve as a beacon of hope to the rest of the seven billion people in the world.