Phasers also went to schools, churches, shopping centers, and other events, as well as "permissions" to the lake. Although I understand and sympathize with those who do not wish to have the memorial at the scene of the crime, I think that NOT having the memorial service at the lake because "phasers went on outings there" is knuckling under, depriving ourselves of our freedom to go wherever we wish and assemble there peaceably. Denying ourselves our right to go somewhere for that kind of reason would be allowing Straight to have too much influence in our lives, which is in essence, exactly what we are both mourning (for those that Straight influenced to the point of death) and hopefully, beginning to heal.
Personally, I'd like to have the memorial on Mel Sembler's or Miller Newton's front lawn, if I didn't have enough respect for our dead to keep me from wanting to besmirch a solemn occasion such as this by having it in close proximity to either of those vile and disgusting criminal child abusers.
Which brings me to another point I would like to add---This memorial is for US, as we remember our friends and family members, both living and dead, who have suffered, and, all too often, continue to suffer due to wounds physical, emotional, spiritual, and psychological. I don't think we need to turn this into a protest or pep rally, this is not about identifying and blaming the perpetrators--we know who they are and what they did, and they know that we know. This is about us and our healing process, about remembering our lost friends, about mourning their untimely departure from this world. It is also, I believe, for the wounded that Straight produced by the score: The scared, lonely woman who calls you late at night with traumatic memories and frightened thoughts; the guy who can't hold a job because he can't deal with the paranoia he feels when he's outside his house; the man who hasn't been able to find happiness in his personal relationships because he only knows how to express himself by "confronting" others; the guy who is haunted by nightmares about being back in Straight; the woman who resigns herself to being a drug addict because it was drilled into her that she was :powerless over drugs" and now believes she is doomed to a life of addiction because she is a "druggie whore piece of shit"; the people who can't cope with daily life because of the traumatic incidents that they experienced in Straight,; the guys and girls who held such promise at one time, but who are now scarred shadows of their former selves; these are the people that I will mourn alongside the dead; these are the people who still stand, perhaps barely, as an example of the horrendous crimes that were not only committed against us, but were committed against us in the name of "love", "honesty", "empathy and sensitivity", and "spirituality". These are the wounds that we have suffered, individually and collectively, inflicted on us by evil doers and blind fanatics who had and have no regard for the pain they have caused. I will mourn the dead and wounded, but I will also take hope and comfort in the presence of so many of us who survived the ordeal, those who are still alive, those that while struggling perhaps, continue to go forward, minute by minute, reclaiming their lives, therir minds, and their dignity as human beings. I will take solace in the fact that in spite of the damage done by Straight, we the living can and must carry on, to not only survive, but to thrive; to be a bright beacon of hope to those still suffering; to show all the world, among them those who have committed atrocities against us, that we were not defeated, we were not destroyed, we will not be silenced nor intimidated, we will embody the resilience of the human spirit, we will continue to heal, to learn, to grow, and to live[/b].
