Gray Watson Personal Thoughts 2002.01.21
4 Months After

Here's some thoughts from four months after the New Day of Infamy. So much has not changed. America is fast returning to normal.

• The American flags on cars, so plentiful in the days and weeks after 9/11/, are now few and far between. The irony and comedy which was "dead" has returned as Americans grow tired of the "War on Terrorism" and stories of white powder. They said that "everything has changed" and that "nothing will be the same". They were wrong. Although most things are the same, I do see some differences in a post 9/11 America, but in general these changes leave me angry and sad. I'm not talking about the state of our economy which seems to have been very affected (I do get the feeling that aside from the travel industry, 9/11 was the biggest economic excuse for the American corporatation since Black Monday). I'm not talking about the changes to the New York skyline. I'm not talking about the blows to our collective psyche although it pretty much has recovered. I'm talking about what we are now doing in the name of justice.

  At this moment we have 100s of people that have been in custody without charges for months. We have Taliban soldiers living in semi-open facilities in Cuba which have been deemed, at the best, questionable by the International Red Cross officials. Our Government states that these aren't prisoners of war but "war criminals" or "terrorists" which is in direct violation of international law. This is exactly the behavior which brings us the hatred of the world's oppressed. We must be beyond reproach in such matters. We must hold ourselves to a higher level of scrutiny since we are the "land of the free". It is easy to write off such behavior from China or North Korea but to do so here in the name of justice undermines all that we [should] believe in and only encourages the factions we are trying to irradicate.

• Today I removed my 9/11 tribute page which I put up on the 11th as sign of solidarity. As I review it I find myself a little ashamed of its contents. It is standard stuff about giving blood, sending relief supplies, and giving money to victims' funds.

• Giving Blood:

  The large magority of blood that was donated after 9/11 was burnt by the Red Cross when it expired months later. They made the conscious decision to take blood that they knew could not be used. I would have used the interest to inform the public that they needed to come back in a couple of months and start giving regularly. As good citizens, we should be giving blood monthly. We should all have organ donor cards in our wallets and we should talk to our loved ones and have living wills stating that we want our organs and eyes harvested if possible.

• Relief Supplies:

  [So now in 2006, I can find little evidence of the following so it may not be true.] Thousands of pounds of food and water and supples poored into New York after 9/11 to such an extent that it lay rotting on warehouse loading docks and officials had advertise for people to stop. I can only hope that food banks and shelters received some of this bounty so that the generosity was not wasted. It is hard to find fault with such behavior but I worry that sending food was an easy out for our pain and grief. It is good to feel helpless once and a while. We should not have relinquished that feeling so quickly by dashing to the Red Cross center, writing a check, or sending a case of Poland Mountain Spring water to New York.

  We must let the helplessness change us. We should be reminded more often that there are so many people in this world who have that very feeling of powerless every day. If we could only capture that palatable feeling in a bottle so that it can touch us on a more regular basis, it would do so much good.

• Money for Victims' Funds:

  In terms of money for victims, I found myself very conflicted. I did give money to the funds. Like many American's I felt it was important to do so as a sign of support. But now I read stories about how other charities are shutting down programs since so much of the public's attention has been focused on New York. So many people took out the checkbooks to help, but the monies seem to be directed at so few people. It would have been better if people gave more to the charities to which they were already donating.

  The government is offering money directly to victims' families to try and help them support themselves. The formulas do seem flawed since if a victim had life insurance or made sound investments, these are deducted from the amount from the government -- in effect punishing them for sound financial planning. Plus it is all based on the victim's dependants. An elderly woman who does not have dependants does not get much money (if any). I heard some woman saying on the radio the other day "my mother's worth more that $100,000!!" as if this was some sort of insurance scam.

  This was a terrible accident -- a monstrosity. But thousands of people every year don't get a dime when their loved ones get killed by drunk drivers. The families of victims of the Columbine High School shootings did not get anything for their loss. The families who had loved ones killed in Oklahoma City federal building bomb didn't get a penny. But it is easy for me to sit on the sideline and be critical of these people. I assume that 95% of them are quietly taking the government's money and are trying to return to some semblance of life. To them I wish strength, vision, and peace.

• So the typical American lawsuits have already been filed. No one saw this coming but for some reason United and American Airlines are "liable". The airline industry is going down the toilet but that won't stop the lawyers from snapping at their ankles.

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