9/11 Father: 'I Don't Understand All of This Hate'

[one_voice]

(Sept. 9) -- Of all the things he carries in his heart -- grief, pain, longing and loss -- Lee Ielpi refuses to carry hate.

He carried the body of his firefighter son, 29-year-old Jonathan Ielpi, from the choking, twisted rubble of the World Trade Center. That was burden enough for the father of four grown children who gave 26 years of his life to the Fire Department of New York.

Nine years later, he has no time for the rhetoric of a small Florida pastor who said he would burn copies of the "evil" Quran, Islam's holy book, on the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The pastor, Terry Jones, announced Thursday afternoon that he was canceling the plans amid an international outcry.

"I don't understand all of this hate," Ielpi, 66, told AOL News. "I'm not sure where these things come from. What's it going to do except promote hate?"

He pleads for tolerance. Especially on Saturday.

"It should be a special day to remember these people," he says. "You know how many people are still missing? Where they've found nothing (of them)? One thousand, one hundred and twenty-five."

Tribute WTC Visitor Center, which Ielpi helped found while city planners argued over a memorial site at ground zero, issued a public statement earlier this week saying it would be "disrespectful" to protest a planned Islamic center two blocks away. Both sides of the project have called for demonstrations Saturday.

*snip*

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/911-father-lee-ielpi-i-dont-understand-all-of-this-hate/19625618



Retired New York City firefighter Lee Ielpi, seen here in December 2001 at the site of the World Trade Center in New York, volunteered in the recovery effort and helped carry his son Jonathan's remains from the site.

[madmax]

1. It's a shame families like Firefighter Ielpi's

have to go through not only the loss of a family member but, the disgraceful hatefulness and insanity that mars a day that is sacred to them and the memory of their loved ones. What a country. :cry:

[gophates]

2. Not the whole country. Just the red parts.

That's your hate.

[seabeyond]

3. now.... i am feeling such empathy for all these people that have suffered a loss and this man

wow, what a job he did nine years ago.

the people that cannot honor these people for ONE day are disgusting. he is not the first i have heard asking people to let it go ONE day.

and yet

there are people that won't.

[LiberalinNC]

4. Such a beautiful man!!! My heart aches for him and his family

I completely agree with him - I don't understand all the hate. Sounds as if he has forgiveness in his heart, something most people can seem to find!!

[one_voice]

5. I agree...

it makes my heart ache that people are so wrapped up in their hate and bigotry they lose sight of what's important.

[AsahinaKimi]

14. +1000

yap. agree.

[applegrove]

6. Wonderful of him to speak out.

[glitch]

7. And courageous, apparently a way of life with him. nt

[thereismore]

8. I am so sorry. But the hate source is on your cable lineup. nt

[Scurrilous]

9. K & R

:thumbsup:

[Jennicut]

10. Which is why I dread 9/11 more and more every year. It should be a day to memorialize and

remember the dead, not carry on over the war on terror, burning the Quran or other such nonsense. It is about the fact that those people died that day. I remember that day distinctly and it was 9 years ago. I was holding a fellow co-worker in my arms and she was screaming cries of desperation, not knowing if her sister was dead or alive. Her sister worked at the Pentagon and ended up in a coma when a piece of the building hit her head. But she did survive and wake from the coma about 4 months later. And so I dread the talk on 9/11 because it is about hatred, not about trying to grieve and then move on. I totally understand Lee Ielpi's feelings.

[krabigirl]

12. it's now a full day of the 2 minutes hate. nt

[Tx4obama]

11. K&R n/t

[one_voice]

13. kick...

tomorrow is the anniversary of 9/11 and I think this says a lot.