EXPERIENCE AT TERMINAL IS A SAD COMMENTARY
(VIEWPOINTS)(Letter to the Editor) June 27, 1999
COPYRIGHT 1999 The Buffalo News. All rights reserved.
Recently, I stood in front of the Buffalo Central Terminal, taking photographs of what is still a magnificent structure. Three small boys, perhaps 4, 6 and 7 years old, cautiously approached me and asked: "Hey lady, were you here when the bomb went off?"
Bewildered, I asked, "What bomb?" They replied, "The bomb that hit that building." I turned to look again at the building, its windows broken and the building in a state of disarray. Ten years ago, children might have thought that kids threw rocks at the windows, but today they think of a bomb!
"No," I explained, "it was not a bomb, but probably kids throwing stones or perhaps birds hitting the windows . . ." Then I began to explain that the building was used during the time of steam engines and that it is no longer needed due to the demise of the steam engine. I began to realize, through their blank stares, that they had no idea what I was talking about.
They would never know about the era of steam -- or the age of innocence. I suddenly felt very sad. Today's children could not see the beauty I saw when photographing the structure. Instead, they had a fear of bombs.
DOROTHY GOVENETTIO