On Fri, 14 Sep 2001 16:27:14 -0500, dbright <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>No. They are people who, while in terrible danger, thought more of the safety
>of others than of themselves.
>

Isn't that the definition of "martyr"?  What *is* the definition?  Let's see...

Random House Unabridged, Second Edition:  "A person put to death on behalf of a
principle, belief or cause."

Webster's Third International, Unabridged: "One who sacrifices life...for the sake of
principle."

Under Webster's definition, I do not think it would be much of a stretch to see the
passengers on Flight 93 as martyrs, since they crashed the plane (assuming that's
what happened) for the sake of a greater principle: preventing it from being used as
a weapon to kill / harm untold other innocents.

And I do not think it's all that much of a stretch under the Radom House definition to
consider all the victims, on all four planes and on the ground, as unwitting martyrs:
they were certainly put to death on behalf of the hijackers' cause and their own
participation in the American way of life, which may be viewed as a belief or
principle.

But I find all this nit-picking over semantics to be somewhat distasteful, and not
particularly relevant to the OP.  To answer that question, I can think of the following
museum martyr exhibits:

any religious museum that may cover the martyrs of its faith

the National Civil Rights museum and any others that cover Dr. King and others who
died advancing that cause

the recent travelling exhibit of photos of lynchings

any museum that covers the US Civil War

arguably, any war museum would cover people who died for their beliefs.

But that would require a fairly liberal interpretation of the term "martyr."

-- Eugene Dillenburg
Exhibit Developer
Science Museum of Minnesota

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(651) 221-4706

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