The good that can come from tragedy
In the next essay in our "I believe" series, I share how 9/11 altered my perception of individuals' ability to come together after horrendous events.
“If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn’t part of ourselves doesn’t disturb us.”
— Hermann Hesse, “Demian”
I was a few days shy of 15 when 19 terrorists took the lives of 2,997 people – mostly Americans – on September 11, 2001. Later that afternoon, as I sat watching the news coverage, from the safety and seclusion of my bedroom, I felt overwhelmed by sadness. I struggled to understand how people could do this to fellow human beings. But, beneath that, I also felt something unlike anything I had before — a deep sense of pride in and patriotism for my country.
I had been raised to love my country, to know its history, to pledge allegiance to the flag, to stand for the national anthem. I knew that we enjoyed certain freedoms that other countries did not — ones that we often take for granted. But the deeper meaning of all of this had been, up to this point, largely lost on me. An abstract concept that, at the time, I was too inexperienced in life to comprehend.
In this new feeling, however, it turned out I was not alone.
In the days and months that followed, the country came together in ways that many people would think impossible nowadays. Americans held candlelight vigils, drove thousands of miles to volunteer in New York, enlisted in the military. Musicians wrote songs memorializing those whose lives were cut short. Congressmen and women sang “God Bless America” together on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. The American flag was flown from homes, cars, storefronts and overpasses, was tattooed, and painted on barns and buildings. (Some reports put the increase in sales of the American flag in the weeks following 9/11 at 1,000 percent.)
The solidarity and patriotism felt by all was electric. The promise of the future alive and well. Life had given us rotten lemons, and we had grown an orchard. And it wasn’t in spite of what had happened, but because of it.
I used to think that’s just what happened when tragedy strikes — that like a tsunami following a massive earthquake, people after horrific events organically come together.
But that is a fallacy.
Instead, I’ve realized, it’s a decision that people make. An active choice to abandon preconceived notions about the “other” side, to stop questioning motives when people open up, to allow people to grieve in their own way. To realize it’s how we are alike (not different) that matters most. And that the fate of our country and our dignity as humans and our future in this world depend on it.
Ultimately, I believe that there is good that can come from tragedy — as long as we have the strength, the humility, the courage and the humanity to heed the call.
Read about the impetus for our “I believe” series at the link below.
“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”
— Martin Luther King Jr.
