Heroes, Victims
A time to honor the dead--and to embrace the living
Like a hanging, the threat of a terrorist attack, to paraphrase Samuel Johnson, concentrates the mind wonderfully. The mundane concerns about work and family that dog daily life receded last week. Suddenly the squabble with a spouse, the annoyance at a coworker or neighbor, no longer seem to matter. In the face of tragedy, whining about one's lot is downright embarrassing. It is not much of an exaggeration to say that when the World Trade Center towers crumbled, they took America's excessive sense of complacency and entitlement with them. It is hard to imagine that Americans will ever again dismiss the danger of terrorism--or the blessings of living in a prosperous, democratic nation.
The sorting out, though, is far from over--little more than the first wave of shock and sadness has now faded. It may not last, but, for the first time in many years, Americans of all stripes are acting on a collective urge to remain connected. By the millions last week, they bought and hung out flags, lit candles, and left flowers for the dead. And then they prayed to a higher power, in the hope that God could explain why innocent people had to die.
With Ben Wildavsky, Mary Brophy Marcus and Jeff Howe
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