Wednesday 14 September 2011

2127 Grieving for 9/11

I know grief as well as sadness although neither are my constant companions as they have been at different times in my life. I cry more than I have but not because of my own situation but from the empathy of an experience in some theatrical moment, opera, or film, or because of some extraordinary event such as occurred on 9/11, 2001.

There were several uplifting as well as tragically sad moments during the 10th anniversary on Sunday as politicians praised the heroism Flight 93 and the Fire Fighters and others who also gave their lives as first responders to the twin airplane assaults on the Towers of the World Trade Centre and then there was the shared continuing grief of the relatives of all those who perished, some three thousands individuals and these included over 3000 children.

I debated whether to watch the various ceremonies and documentaries and interviews with the families of the victims and with the 17000 people who escaped from the Trade Centre and surrounding buildings because I knew it would affect me although perhaps not as much as happened at the time. However nothing can compare with the sense of irreversible loss if one had been a relative, a friend or a work colleague of one the victims. We shed tears but we move on, they often do not.

It may seem unfair that we give such attention to these deaths compared with those who die from natural or accidental causes. But as one young adolescent expressed in a special programme covering the subsequent lives of several of the children, I want to grieve privately and to be allowed to be a normal adolescent and not to be singled out whenever the subject is mentioned in class or in the media. The families of those who died are also victims of the terror.

I avoided programmes until the Saturday when I watched Presidents Carter and Bush and Vice President Biden attend the official opening of the memorial to the passengers and crew of Flight 93, comprising forty vertical slabs of veined marble individually named after the 40 who died when the hijackers headed the plane into the ground at 500 miles an hour because a group of passengers attempted to storm the cockpit and prevent a fourth assault on a seat of government presumed to be the Capital building in Washington or the White House.

The plane was then about 150 miles north west of Washington having turned back from its route from Newark New Jersey to San Francisco California coming down on a reclaimed mining strip mining site, about a mile and half from a lake and two and half miles from a main highway and two miles from the community of Stonycreek Shanksville in the county of Somerset.

It was President Carter who placed the actions of the passengers in perspective referring to the Sacrifice of the Spartan 300 (about 1000 others) against the 70000-200000 estimated army of Persia in order to prevent the destruction of the rest of the armies from the Greek states, and to that of the Alamo when a few hundred Texans held out but were eventually defeated by the Mexican Army. He pointed out that both events involved soldiers. The passengers of Flight 93 were not.

They knew of the attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon and acted in order to prevent their participation in a similar terrorist assault thus not just saving additional lives but the damage to the institutions of the nation.

The main aim of the speakers was to address the continuing pain of the relatives, made worse by all the media attention of the anniversary. For many their lives have remained frozen to the time of the day when they knew they had lost their loved ones. However behind the emotion there had been the long struggles, sometimes neglected by the media and those with the power to do something to achieve a permanent monument and a visitor’s centre, despite several hundred people making a pilgrimage to the site every day, 150000 a year.

This was grasped by President Clinton who had learned that significant funds were still needed to create a visitors centre and museum dedicated to what happened to ensure that the act of sacrifice was not forgotten, except by the immediate families and their descendents.

The actual ground where the plane had crashed had been the subject of a financial wrangle with the owners who demanded an extortionate profit insisting on $10 million saying the land was worth $50 million and eventually agreeing to $9.5 million in a court settlement after a Congressman had blocked the release of funds because he felt the amount asked was unrealistic...another aspect of the American Dream alas.

The Families had been forced to purchase adjacent land for the temporary memorial although the intention is to leave the immediate site of the crash as a burial ground because only a small percentage of remains have been recovered with the impact destroying the rest The whole site is now under the control of the National Parks with the permanent Memorial being developed through a partnership between the Families of Flight 93, the Federal Advisory Commission, The Flight 93 Task Force, The National Park Service and the National Parks Foundation and a host of National, State and local organisation. It is not surprising that it has taken so long and that money still needs to be raised.

I was impressed with the continuous coverage of Fox news who provided interviews, as did all the main news channels of the stories of survivors and of relatives but the most moving and thought providing was the reading of names at the site of the World Trade Centre and in the Memorial Garden in London for those killed who were British citizens.

At the actual site of where once stood the twin towers a national memorial has been created with twin square waterfalls around reflecting pools with the water constantly pumped back up. The names of the dead have been etched on slanted panels around the circumferences and these are lit at night, with the area surrounded by 220 swamp white oaks which can reach 60 to 80 feet and live for as long as 300 to 350 years.

In 80 pairs, a parent. a daughter or son, many still children, a brother or sister, an uncle or an aunt, read out the name of 8 or 9 other victims before remembering their immediate relative, some adding a few words while a few spoke out of their grief and mentioning the devotion of family members by name and this was the heart breaking legacy of the day with the statements of the children particularly touching. Some of the children together with some nephews and niece had joined national services: - the police, fire fighters and armed services because of the inspiration and sense of loss of the close relative. So many stories to tell and worth telling, so many tears to shed and sacrifice of relatives who had died in the line of duty.

But again so much controversy. There were disagreements and challenges over the cost of the National memorial where construction costs are said to have raised to over $1 billion from the original half that amount. There has also been controversy and disagreement by many of the families over the proposed museums which were to have been created. There was to have been an International Freedom Centre but was criticised as having nothing directly to do with the events of September 11th and could include criticism of past USA policies. The Museum should be completed next year.

In contrast to controversy and delays surrounding the National Memorial and that for Flight 93, the Pentagon was repaired to look as if nothing had happened within a year and the Memorial Park outside the building completed and looks good.

In London the approach has been restrained, behind the scenes action and appears to have progressed without controversy. The perspective is that 67 British Citizens lost their lives, the biggest number outside of US citizens and more in total than the passengers and crew of Flight 93. Almost immediately after the dreadful events a body was formed to represent the interests of the families, to provide them with mutual support and to procure legal and financial support as well as representing the interests of the families to government and other agencies as appropriate.

The members of the governing committee are unremunerated but they and the members of the association are provided with financial help for accommodation and travel when they meet together or represent interests. There are 285 individual in membership including 33 children of the victims. The Committee meets monthly and arranges quarterly meetings for members on a regional basis as well establishing local groups for those wishing to meet on a more local basis.

The association was established with a substantial donation from the British Ref Cross, the USA World Trade Disaster fund, the Lord Mayors Fund and from other organisations and individuals. The association has worked closely with the Department of Media Culture and Leisure with help for Memorials and Remembrance services and which led to the creation of the Memorial and Gardens close to the USA Embassy. A National service was held in St Paul’s on the first anniversary and again on Sunday before representatives of about half the families came for the reading of names and the placing of white roses on Sunday afternoon at which the Prince of Wales who has given considerable personal support over the years was invited to speak together with the Prime Minister, Deputy and Opposition Leader and the Mayor of London. An annual music concert has also been arranged each year.

Because the UK victims were killed at the Trade Centre they were eligible for payments from the Disaster fund which was created with the help of donations from two million individuals and organisations and which raised $534 million distributing $528 million by way of 559 grants to cover medical care for those injured and who were displaced from home and jobs and was closed in 2004. Separately a Victims compensation fund was established by Act of Congress to provide compensation in order to prevent the airline companies involved being sued and going out of business and on basis of working out how much each individual would have earned during the rest of their lifetime. As a consequence a total of $7 billion was awarded with an average payout of $1.8 million which suggests some 4000 awards although the figures are deceptive because covered would be domestic staff as well highly remunerated senior members of corporations. It is presumed that employers and private life insurance schemes will also have contributed, but no amount of funds can compensate. The crying goes on.

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