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Jewish World Review Sept. 11, 2003 / 14 Elul, 5763 Second thoughts at September 11th By Victor J. Wishna
http://www.jewishworldreview.com |
NEW YORK — Second anniversaries can be tricky.
The first time around is unique, almost as special as the event itself. The next time, it isn't that simple. The memory, no matter how indelible, is simply not as fresh as it was just a year ago, and frustratingly so. And when the event is an unprecedented national disaster that contorted the contours of the city's skyline and still drives the government's policies, there are many questions.
On talk radio, on op-ed pages, on lunch breaks, New Yorkers debate the distinctions. Should a day so dark be anointed a national holiday? Should it be a time to remember our personal vulnerability or celebrate our collective strength? There are discussions of whether the day should even be known as September 11. And if so, can that date ever fairly stand as the anniversary of something else, something joyful - a wedding, a birthday - that came before it? And if not, what should we call it? In the Czech Republic, it is known as "Twin Towers Day." This is little consolation to those who lost family that morning at the Pentagon, or in rural Pennsylvania.
Unlike last year, New York's communal commemoration is scored with small fissures. There's a very subtle but growing rift here between those for whom the agony remains real, those who lost someone close - a friend, a co-worker, a family member - and the millions of others for whom grief, over time, has dulled to a delicate ache.
Last week, many victims' families planned to protest at the Trade Center site, preparing to gather in "the pit" and block construction equipment with their bodies, to prevent what they saw as encroachment on sacred ground. Only a last-minute decision by the city to close off the area at street level prevented an awkward scene in which the "heroes" of the NYPD would be forced to arrest widows and orphans.
This week, the last of the 343 firefighters lost in the attacks was memorialized when his family buried a finger-sized vial of blood he had donated years ago. His remains, like those of more than a thousand other victims, have never been identified. At the funeral, eulogies reflected on the theme of healing, and moving on, though for some, closure was elusive. "You can always turn the page," one fireman at the funeral told the New York Times, "but you will never close the book."
How can you? Americans are still dying daily in faraway, some say needlessly, some say to prevent "another September 11th." Anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that blame Israel or "the Jews" have only gained momentum, bloating into an entire industry of books, pamphlets, videotapes, and web sites. Constitutional civil rights are being reinterpreted in the name of Homeland Security.
Yet in many ways, attitudes here have relaxed.
Within days of the attacks, New York street vendors began selling "disaster postcards" of burning towers and falling bodies. For months, most locals and even a few tourists who refused to buy the sickening souvenirs saw this profiteering on tragedy as travesty (even as it reaffirmed the country's capitalist spirit). Somehow, these 50-cent photos were tasteless tokens compared to the $50 books of graphic news photos that continue to line the front tables of Barnes & Noble.
In the year following the attacks, the entertainment industry, too confused as to how to respond, largely did not. The first theatrical events in New York to deal with the topic, such as "The Guys," which became a somewhat well-regarded movie, were inspiring but sorrowful stories of loss. Now, in just the next two weeks, three new September 11th-themed plays will open off-Broadway. All are comedies, to some degree, that deal with the disaster from a distance. The most hyped is "Recent Tragic Events," which stars Heather Graham as a young Minneapolis woman who goes on an awkward blind date on September 12, 2001. In an interview, one of the show's producers even referred to the play as "a period piece."
And there's finally a TV movie.
I probably remember September 11, 2001, every day. At least, if I happen to be downtown, or looking downtown, or talking to someone who lives downtown. But once in awhile, however, an unexpected reminder catches me off guard.
At the end of my block, the lamppost is lined with political stickers from campaigns new and old. "Americans for Howard Dean." "Martinez for City Council." "Vote NO! on #9" Many are scratched off or otherwise vandalized. But one remains whole and unscathed: "Every vote counts! Vote Democratic! September 11, 2001." That was the date citizens were going to pick a replacement for Rudy Giuliani, who many New Yorkers at the time were more than ready to be rid of. Whether this bit of memorabilia has been left untouched out of respect or superstition or simple partisanship I don't know. Maybe it's just stuck on there really well.
The confusion of how to react this second time around is okay, probably a little healthy. What matters is not how we commemorate the next anniversary, but how we prepare the next generation to live in the reality of September 11, 2001.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and in the media consider "must reading." Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here. JWR contributor Victor J. Wishna is a New York City-based journalist. Comment by clicking here.
© 2003, Victor J. Wishna | ||||||||||
