Firefighters search for survivors in the ruins of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, New York, Usa, September 11, 2001 Photo/Visual China
She can't forget the pain of the past, "The biggest lie people tell you about grief is that over time it will get better and you'll heal." It's not, and over time, you just learn how to handle pain and grief better. ”
Text / Southern People Weekly reporter Nie Yangxin
Intern reporter Zhao Enlu
Edited / Huang Jian [email protected]
In her novel The Door at the Stairwell, the American writer Lori Moore constructs the life of a girl who is twenty years old, from a peasant family in the Midwest, and her brother, who did not go to college to join the army, was sent to the battlefields of Afghanistan; she went to college in the small town of Troy, New York, and took part-time to care for a white couple's adopted "black and white" baby girls; and made a boyfriend who called himself Brazilian but did not speak Portuguese.
The story begins in September of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and in the following year, the girl received a death notice from her brother and died in a suicide bombing; college students marched to protest Bush's increase in troops, with a sign that reads "War is not the answer"; her boyfriend's real identity is suspected to be a terrorist of Middle Eastern descent, who left the United States because of her position; she and the baby girl experienced the discrimination against people of color around her, and finally the white couple was found to be hiding the case and lost their adoption qualifications. The baby girl was sent to her next foster home.
Through this perspective, the author writes about some of the effects of 9/11 on the lives of ordinary people: war, discrimination against people of color, panic about latent terrorists.
9/11 was the worst terrorist attack on the U.S. mainland and the greatest trauma the United States suffered after the end of the Cold War. Although not as dramatic as the plot and network of relationships in the novel, 9/11 did have a general impact on the lives of generations, either from the intense stimulation of the day of the event, from every subsequent event that followed, and from the vibration of ideas.
For example, it has influenced perceptions of the United States—including national identity and the international situation, the trade-off between national security and individual freedom, thinking about war and peace, attitudes towards the coexistence of different religions and ethnic groups, and the degree of participation in public affairs.
Southern People magazine interviewed several ordinary people living in the United States who did not suffer direct harm in the incident or were witnesses to the war and specific policies. When 9/11 happened, they were of different ages, from six- or seven-year-old children, young people who had just entered marriage, and middle-aged people with successful careers. They live in different parts of the United States, such as the east, the middle, and the west, and look back at 9/11 twenty years later, and they have their own experiences and perceptions.
A poem titled "Roses Blooming at Night" describes the picture after 9/11:
One week
The black clouds, the rain, spit out
Fog dust
street
Held back by fear
Mud pressed in
Curb edge
But actually 9/11 happened on a sunny blue day, and Keiko remembers it as a refreshing autumn day. He took the subway to the World Trade Center subway station under the Petronas Twin Towers and walked along the underground passage to the Petronas Twin Towers, ready to head to his office in the South Tower. He was 43 years old at the time and was vice president of general affairs at a Japanese bank.
Halfway down the road, he found that the underground passage had entered the water, and someone in the crowd shouted "Get out now." When he reached the ground, he saw that the South Tower was on fire, and stood in the same place in confusion, staring at the flames for a while. The North Tower exploded, and he ran away, spraining his foot from a fall on the way—not by stumbling over an obstacle, but by his lack of a ghost.
After the collapse of the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center in New York, everything in the company was gone, most of the employees were safe, only a young expatriate died, and a colleague escaped before the collapse but inhaled asbestos, Keiko did not know whether this colleague later suffered from related diseases. In the 20th century, asbestos was widely used in architecture due to its high fire resistance, electrical insulation and thermal insulation, but asbestos is very easy to drift out of the air to produce fibrous objects. After the collapse of the Twin Towers, toxic dust released from building materials infected a large number of rescuers, cleaners and nearby residents with "World Trade Center cough". Studies from the New York State Department of Health show that these people have a much higher chance of developing cancer than ordinary people.
On September 11, 2001, in New York, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center exploded after being hit by hijacked aircraft, and thick smoke poured out of the building Photo/Visual China
The 9/11 Victims' Compensation Fund (VCF), established by the U.S. Congress, not only provides compensation to the victims, but also targets individuals with 9/11-related illnesses. The deadline for filing compensation applications for the fund has been extended to 2090 through a bill signed by Trump. As of 2020, VCF has received more than 55,000 personal injury claims.
Keiko's first challenge is the pacification of its employees. He paid his employees at home. Two weeks after the incident, he found a temporary office to settle down. It was a year later that the new office was rearranged.
His mood was terrible. Friends Kaoru, who works at Other Press in New York, said a month after the terrorist attack, Keiko kept eating to ward off her inner fear. Kaoru observed that her colleagues were very depressed, and while working in the office, some of them would suddenly cry, shout, or sit in frustration without saying a word. It took about a few months for their mental state to return to normal. Keiko says she won't be able to laugh easily until three years later.
UCLA-related studies have shown that more than 90 percent of people who witnessed it had at least one stress-related psychiatric symptom, and about 15 percent had post-traumatic stress disorder. In the two years since the incident, the New York State Mental Health Office launched a psychological crisis intervention program that provided about 1.2 million mental health services to local residents.
Kaoru, who was in her second year in the United States in 2001, lamented the victims of the incident but could not understand the reaction of those around her, "My father's family was a survivor of the 1945 Tokyo airstrike, and I had heard about the air raids since I was a child, and the '9/11' disaster was very light compared to the Tokyo air raids, and the number of deaths in Tokyo in 1945 exceeded 100,000 in four hours." ”
Keiko noticed that the surrounding security had been upgraded. Soldiers were deployed at the Port Authority bus terminal. Each bus is also equipped with a plainclothes policeman. Security checks at museums have also become unusually strict. He began to go out less often, no longer going to see baseball with his children, no longer going to places where crowds gathered. Many friends who live in Manhattan have moved to the suburbs, and some Japanese colleagues have even returned to Japan. Keiko only travels when attending the necessary museum events. He came to New York from Japan in 1984 and, in addition to his job, he was an artist.
After 9/11, Americans generally felt that national security was seriously challenged, and strengthening the maintenance of homeland security and personal safety meant ceding some of their personal freedom. In October 2001, the U.S. House and Senate passed the USA PATRIOT Act, which stipulates that the state can monitor citizens' mail, telephone calls, and even separately try citizens when the situation is uncertain.
Immigrants, especially Muslims, are under surveillance. Keiko often heard them being harshly cross-examined by the police. To that end, he bought a book called Clash of Civilizations and the Rebuilding of world order.
After 9/11, Islam and Muslims in the United States faced many difficulties and challenges. The FBI has taken thousands of American Muslims out of the community for questioning and conversation. Some foreign Muslims on visas have even been detained by the police. During the Muslim month of Ramadan in 2001 (beginning November 17, 2001), the U.S. government shut down several larger Islamic donor agencies for fear of supporting terrorism.
Discussions about 9/11 on social networks often include Muslims sharing their experiences. Mina, a girl born in December 2001, said that when she began wearing a headscarf (the iconic outfit for Muslim women) in sixth grade, classmates would make malicious jokes about her terrorists and classmates would send her bloody videos of terrorist groups. At one point, she was very confused as to why people wanted to associate her with a horrible murderer.
Diante believes that some Americans' rejection of Muslims originally stemmed from fear, and when the Twin Towers and Pentagon were attacked one after another, people did not know what would happen next. "The tense atmosphere fills the air as if you could cut it layer by layer with a knife, and you worry that maybe the next place to be attacked is your residence, maybe the terrorists live nearby." Therefore, many people mistakenly project fear into the entire Muslim community, thinking that Muslims hate Americans and are violent. So people would actively attack Muslims, "just as Roosevelt established Japanese concentration camps after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor." ”
Born in California, Diante is 27 years old and currently studying in the UK. He argues that despite the rare cohesion of the American community after 9/11, the rejection of Middle Easterners is strong. Growing up, he saw a lot of discrimination against Muslims in school. His high school atmosphere was conservative, and his classmates would directly say racist remarks. After going to college, this discrimination did not diminish, and his Muslim friends experienced verbal and physical conflict, so much so that when he talked to others about Middle East policy or Islam, muslim friends would feel uneasy once someone showed alarm about Islam.
He wanted to do something to change the attitudes of others, spreading a Muslim-friendly message and an introduction to Islam on social media, "but unfortunately, when a lot of people reach a certain age, they are reluctant to change their minds." ”
American Muslims themselves have taken many positive actions to eliminate discrimination. In the wake of the terrorist attacks, the Council on Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim organization in the United States, quickly issued a statement: "We strongly condemn the vicious attacks on innocent people by terrorists, and we join the American people in calling for the arrest and severe punishment of terrorists as soon as possible." "Muslims are advocating for communication and expression among non-Muslims. Some Muslims say that when he walks on the road wearing a headscarf, he will take the initiative to smile at passers-by and give a good impression.
A survivor displays a "911" tattoo on his right wrist/People's Vision, New York, USA, June 8, 2021
Diante was only 7 years old when 9/11 happened, and his understanding of the affair grew up. Years later, he argues that many of the U.S. responses were incorrect and emotionally driven, such as waging wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, discriminating against Muslims, and so on. He began to think about what it would be like to truly commemorate the victims of 9/11. He was involved in the 2019 call for the government to extend the VCF compensation application.
Back on the day of the incident, Diante was most impressed not by the air raid broadcast he had watched in the elementary school classroom or the panicked look on the face of her teacher, Ms. Rebecca, but by running home after school, worrying along the way that her father, who had served in the army, would be sent somewhere to participate in the war.
After spring break in 2002, Shen Rui flew back to Maine. She was in her late teens and taught Chinese literature at Bowdoin College. At the airport, she saw the newspaper saying "reverence for the great war" and thought to herself how can the war be great?
Ever since bin Laden was locked as the leading suspect in 9/11, the George W. Bush administration has been in a state of intense preparation for military operations against Al Qaeda and the Taliban. On October 7, 2001, the United States launched the War on Terror in Afghanistan, which lasted for 20 years. Shen Rui felt that this name was ridiculous, "What does the innocent Afghan people have to do with terrorists? She agreed with sending a small force to capture terrorists, not to start a war.
During 9/11, the parents of one of Shen Rui's students encountered terrorists on a plane to Philadelphia, where passengers fought with the terrorists and the plane eventually crashed in Pennsylvania. When the student took a leave of absence to return to Philadelphia to deal with the aftermath, Shen Rui also reserved a seat for her in class. She took the students to read Du Fu's "Spring Hope" with her, and after class, she found that a white history professor at the school had also shared the poem with the students. She felt a sense of cohesion, and for the first time since coming to the United States in 1994, she felt strongly that she had integrated into the country.
However, she felt that the rise of American nationalism had led the government to use this popular sentiment to wage war on the one hand, and challenged American liberalism on the other. Liberalism is one of the foundations of the founding of the United States and the core values of the U.S. Constitution. After 9/11, the Patriot Act gave law enforcement the power to monitor, eavesdrop, search, and confiscate property, and the Aviation Security Act changed airport security from the responsibility of private security companies to the newly formed Transportation Security Agency, with airport security officers being held by federal government employees, which was previously unthinkable. The argument that "Americans should consider sacrificing some freedom in order to fight terrorism" prevails, and the idea of emphasizing the supremacy of national security and civic responsibility has emerged.
In 2002, Shen Rui and his students participated in several anti-war demonstrations. There is a military base next to Bowdoin College, and the immediate purpose of the parade is to let the troops in it see the willingness of everyone to oppose war. Many people participated in the march, but the war continued as usual. In 2003, Shen Rui saw a news story in which a well-known rugby player died on the battlefield a few months after voluntarily joining the army, and his mother was particularly distressed in front of the camera. After that, one of the slogans of the march became "All senators or members of the House of Representatives who agree to fight a war should send one child from each family to the battlefield."
Because of the war on terror, Shen Rui felt that 9/11 was a big turning point for the United States, "at the beginning it was thriving in building its own country, and since then it has gone downhill, and so many years of war have caused very large economic losses to the United States and changed the political pattern." Research from Brown University's Watson School of International and Public Affairs shows that the United States has spent a total of $6.4 trillion directly and indirectly on taxpayers in the nearly 20-year war on terror (as of the end of fiscal year 2020).
"You can write a letter when you pay your taxes, saying that my taxes are not allowed to be used for war, but it may just be a false shot, and you don't know where your money is going." Shen Rui said.
Born in Missouri in 1995, Daniel argues that the U.S. military operation in Afghanistan was a failed "democratic experiment, in fact, the army could be withdrawn after capturing bin Laden, but the United States not only wanted to catch terrorists, but also wanted to establish a democratic regime in this country, and it failed." As Biden put it, 'Nothing will change if the U.S. stays for another five years.' I support the withdrawal. Many Americans feel that there must be democratic regimes everywhere, but I don't think it is necessarily more important to see whether Afghans are willing to have such a government, in line with local social development and cultural habits. ”
Daniel felt that the immediate impact of 9/11 on him personally was minimal, but the huge economic damage caused by the war on terror fueled the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis, and in the years that followed, his mother struggled to find a part-time job.
Gari-Lynn thinks it would be foolish to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. Husband Scott used to say to her, "For a country like Afghanistan, we're not just going to go in and destroy the only regime they know about and leave, it's only going to make the country worse." Scott was a soldier who died on the battlefields of Iraq in 2006.
In the year of 9/11, Gari-Lynn, 21, moved with Scott to a military base in New Jersey. She vividly remembers everything that happened on the day of the attack, when the first plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center, and the news on the radio was discussing whether it was a flight accident, and a woman in the South Tower said on a telephone connection that they had been told to evacuate the building. About 15 minutes later, the second plane hit the South Tower, and Gari-Lynn wondered if the woman had managed to escape the building.
She feared that the military base they were at would be the next target, watching the news all day. After watching too many images of towers collapsing, countless people jumping off buildings, and wreckage on the ground after the explosion, she even felt a sense of guilt when she ate at night— so many people died, she could still eat dinner. To this day, she is terrified of planes in the sky, afraid of flying, looking at escape routes in advance before going to the mall, and always worrying that her children will encounter terrorists at school.
Before Scott went to the battlefield, she felt that war was necessary, "Terrorist attacks mean that we will be in war, and I support these efforts to eliminate terrorists." After Scott's death, she joined some online widow groups, listened to and spoke to each other, tried to cope with her grief by helping others resolve their grief, and guided new widows to apply for casualty assistance.
But Scott's death has not faded out of her life. Scott died in an explosion, his body in tatters, and was transported back to the United States for burial, when Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, had his parents sign a document authorizing the base morgue to "dispose of any subsequent parts of his body identified through DNA testing." For several years, Gari-Lynn kept asking by phone and letters what would happen to the rest of her husband's body. In 2011, she finally received a reply from Dover Air Force Base telling her that the remains were "incinerated and dumped in a landfill ... Located in King George County, Virginia".
This shocked and outraged Gari-Lynn, "where dignity and honor should have been shown, to take such a disgusting approach." She reported the egregious behavior at Dover Air Force Base to the Washington Post and a member of Congress, making the incident publicly available.
The U.S. Department of Defense ordered an independent investigation team to investigate the matter thoroughly, and found that not only the fallen soldiers, but also the remains of some of the victims of 9/11 were treated the same. In Gari-Lynn's lawsuit with the U.S. military, military lawyers tried to justify that "the disposal of the landfill did not violate the rules and was not necessarily an undignified practice." The court that heard the case ultimately ruled in favor of Gari-Lynn, condemning the military. The Ministry of Defence responded: "Make sure that in the future there will be no repetition of previous mistakes." ”
When it came to an end, Gari-Lynn entered a new life and had a new family. While navigating with Dover Air Force Base, she realized her love of law and decided to study law at university. In 2021, she will receive her LL.B.
But she can't forget the pain of the past, "The biggest lie people tell you about grief is that over time it will get better and you'll heal." It's not, and over time, you just learn how to handle pain and grief better. ”
On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of 9/11, various commemorative activities have begun. Gari-Lynn joined a memorial group on social networks, where members shared their healing moments. A netizen uploaded a photo of a pear tree in the ground (the ruins of the World Trade Center), with a text description: "It was found in the sweltering rubble, the branches broke, and the trunk burned. Some refuse to give up and insist on taking care of it. The tree eventually survived. If you can, you can, and never forget the people who surround you and help you. Love is light. ”
On July 12, 2021, in New York, USA, "9/11" survivor Al Kim was at the World Trade Center site, holding in his hand a photo of himself returning to the ruins as a medical worker to search and rescue him/People's Vision
Every year, New York City has a large commemorative event on the day of remembrance. Kaoru feels that such events have gradually become the activities of politicians, "If you see the gesture of their speeches, you will know that they are using this as a stage for their own performances." 」 She also has this perception because politicians have repeatedly used 9/11 to stir up nationalist sentiments.
"Never forget" was first proposed as a very humanitarian slogan, reminding people not to forget 9/11. In 2019, Democratic congresswoman Omar, who opposed Trump, described 9/11 as "some people did something and all of us started losing civil liberties" at an event at CAIR. Trump then posted a video of the petronas twin towers exploding on social networks, accompanied by "Never forget," making the phrase seem to be a political symbol as well.
However, many people are still relieved by the spontaneous commemorations held in various places every year. Someone launched a campaign on social networks to go to the 9/11 National Memorial, and many people who could not travel to New York mourned the victims in the comments section.
As a rule, daniel's city of St. Louis will erect 3,000 small flags around anniversary, representing about 3,000 victims. On the morning of the anniversary, a minute or so of silence is held to pay tribute. Dianel believes that 9/11 had little personal impact on him, but his upbringing was marked by it. In fact, when Dianel seriously thought about the question of "impact," the impact was already there.
(Deng Yu, a reporter of this magazine, also contributed to this article)
Resources:
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[2] Jin Hengshan, Trauma and Shadow: 9/11 and American Poetry[J], Journal of English and American Literature, 2014(2): 122-132
[3] Pandya A,Katz CL,Smith R,et al. Services Provided by Volunteer Psychiatrists after 9/11 at the New York City Family Assistance Center:September 12--November 20, 2001[J]. J Psychiatr Pract,2010,16(3):193-199
[4] Feng Ni, "National Security and Individual Freedom: A Perspective on Contemporary American Conservatism"[J], Pacific Journal, 2002(4): 41-49