Regardless of all the other situations, occurences and deviances occuring in the world today, September 11 -- 9/11 -- will, forever, be a significant day for North Americans.
And when the dust had settled and the clean-up of one the worst terrorist attacks on North American soil came to a close the statistics were shocking:
- Actual time when attacks took place: 8:46 a.m. and 9:02 a.m.
- Time the burning towers stood: 56 minutes and 102 minutes.
- Time they took to fall: 12 seconds.
- Total number killed in attacks (official figure as of 9/5/02): 2,819
- Number of firefighters and paramedics killed: 343
- Number of NYPD officers: 23
- Number of Port Authority police officers: 37
- Number of WTC companies that lost people: 60
- Number of employees who died in Tower One: 1,402
- Number of employees who died in Tower Two: 614
- Number of employees lost at Cantor Fitzgerald: 658
- Number of U.S. troops killed in Operation Enduring Freedom: 22
- Number of nations whose citizens were killed in attacks: 115
- Ratio of men to women who died: 3:1
- Age of the greatest number who died: between 35 and 39
- Bodies found "intact": 289
- Body parts found: 19,858
- Number of families who got no remains: 1,717
- Estimated units of blood donated to the New York Blood Center: 36,000
- Total units of donated blood actually used: 258
- Number of people who lost a spouse or partner in the attacks: 1,609
- Estimated number of children who lost a parent: 3,051
- Percentage of Americans who knew someone hurt or killed in the attacks: 20%
- FDNY retirements, January–July 2002: 661
- Number of funerals attended by Rudy Giuliani in 2001: 200
- Number of FDNY vehicles destroyed: 98
- Tons of debris removed from site: 1,506,124
- Days fires continued to burn after the attack: 99
- Jobs lost in New York owing to the attacks: 146,100
- Days the New York Stock Exchange was closed: 6
- Point drop in the Dow Jones industrial average when the NYSE reopened: 684.81
- Days after 9/11 that the U.S. began bombing Afghanistan: 26
- Total number of hate crimes reported to the Council on American-Islamic Relations nationwide since 9/11: 1,714
- Economic loss to New York in month following the attacks: $105 billion
- Estimated cost of cleanup: $600 million
- Total FEMA money spent on the emergency: $970 million
- Estimated amount donated to 9/11 charities: $1.4 billion
- Estimated amount of insurance paid worldwide related to 9/11: $40.2 billion
- Estimated amount of money needed to overhaul lower-Manhattan subways: $7.5 billion
- Amount of money recently granted by U.S. government to overhaul lower-Manhattan subways: $4.55 billion
- Estimated amount of money raised for funds dedicated to NYPD and FDNY families: $500 million
- Number of mentions of 9/11 at the Oscars: 26
- Estimated number of New Yorkers suffering from post-traumatic-stress disorder as a result of 9/11: 422,000
While the numbers may be overwhelming, the reality is that a collective period of grief and mourning is still taking place. This does not usurp or supplant the individual griefing that each direct and indirect victim has had to endure, but this collective grief provided justification for certain actions and responses by the US (and others) to domestic issues and international affairs.
So what do current actions have to do with grief? Noted author and expert on death and grief, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, identifies five stages of grief:
Denial (this isn't happening to me!)
Anger (why is this happening to me?)
Bargaining (I promise I'll be a better person if...)
Depression (I don't care anymore)
Acceptance (I'm ready for whatever comes)
As such, I am willing to predict that the great George W. Bush is, himself, stuck in the bargaining stage of grief; this matched with his position and power, has helped a nation stall in the non-linear collective process of grieving.
In order to appreciate this statement, let's examine what has happened, from an emotional state, since 9/11.
Initially people were stunned. The images of the two planes crashing into the towers, and the images of people jumping to their deaths were indelible reminders of the horrors of those first few moments on September 11, 2001 and a symbol of what was to come. Most of us spent at least a day, if not a few weeks in the first stage of denial. We were shocked that such a horrific, well-orchestrated attack could happen on our home turf. We were horrified that such an attack could kill so many and initiate such an incredibly painful fall-out process (health, financially, psychologically).
Then came anger. Day 26, Bush Jr. and his boys got on the horses and rode in with the cavalry. Their war cry was literally revenge: find the man who is primarily responsible and we will be victorious. The fact that no one can overcome death and that victory over the perpetrator is but a small consolation prize in the grander scheme is completely ignored. Denial helps us to delay the inevitable -- it allows us to ignore reality. So months are spent bombing and rebuilding; bombing and rebuilding. Five years later, the US, Canada and other nations that have built their reputation on peacebuilding are feeling the fall-out of the Afghani's grief process. And the cycle continues.
Now, we are no longer in denial. Things have changed. Lives of all North Americans have changed dramatically. For some this translates into longer delays at the airport; for others it meant a loss in their stock portfolio; for others it meant a spike in insurance premiums and still for others there were very direct impacts of having lost and buried a loved one or, now, nursing a loved one through a 9/11 incurred injury. Once the denial and anger stage has left, we approach bargaining. In America this bargaining has taken on a life of its own.
Promises are made: if this person is caught and punished, we will be safe; if this person is removed from power, we will be safe; if these people are held into account, others will not follow; if this country is proven to be wrong, others will acknowledge and justify our course of action. Yet, all of these statements (and many more) are simply moments of bargaining. They are deals with life (if you're an atheist or agnostic) or pleas with *God* (if you are spiritual or of ANY religious practice -- God is simply a grammatical word used to describe something greater than us). They are the promises we make to ourselves when something goes awry.
But these promises will never fill the hold we feel. They will never replace a loved one; they will never give us back our sense of security; they will never end the hatred that is felt towards Westernized countries. Never. I am sure of that (a rummage through history also provides ample evidence of this assertion and I would be happy to discuss this with ANYONE who does not believe this truth).
So, in order for all of us in North America to truly start feeling safe in our own country, we have to allow ourselves to experience the grief -- not simply for the losses incurred on 9/11, but also for all the losses directly attributable to the actions taken during the bargaining phase AND the very real loss that our lives have changed. Period.
Just a century ago Generals realized they no longer lived in a world dominated by close-range fighting tactics. They switched to long range missiles. Now, we are living in a world where two fighting forces meet on a predetermined battlefield. The practicalities of violent conflict have changed, and along with that change must come an acceptance (born by grief...because no one likes change, and everyone mourns a loss, any kind of loss).
If we were to actually do this -- collectively mourn our loss -- then we may actually see the absurdity of having armed 'peacekeepers' in Afghanistan rather than aidworkers; then we may see that we, as real or imagined enemies in Iraq, will never be able to properly rebuild in a country where we are mistrusted and mistreated. Only then may we, collectivey, appreciate that in order to find a permanent, lasting, peaceful solution, we need to stop looking at the security of the past and start looking at the potential of the future.
In the end (and there is always an end) grief and its stages are about accepting the uncertainty of it all.
For more 9/11 statistics go to: http://www.newyorkmetro.com
For more description on Kubler-Ross' stages of grief go to: http://www.cancersurvivors.org/Coping/end%20term/stages.htm
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