Focus
Student Scene
September 24, 2001
 Vatsal Doshi Photo by Jeff Cleary |
The U.S. Attacked
Exploring the Roots of Horror and of HealingIt seems that what transpired in the U.S. on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, has at least temporarily left a big hole inside me. I do not know why the impact of this event has been so drastic compared to some of the other tragic episodes in my lifetime.
Consider the earthquake in India earlier this year, whose aftermath led me to feel much sympathy and the urge to do something to help. Despite my Indian origin and my ability even to trace ancestors to the affected state of Gujarat, I was able to continue with my normal life.
Perhaps my reaction is due to my being a native of New York City and the events of the 11th being so close to home. Yet I recall that when I was a student at a high school only a few blocks away from the World Trade Center when it was bombed earlier this decade, I was not thrown off balance, as I am today. So why do I feel so horrible now?
Magnitude and Means
Magnitude is only one of the characteristics that determine to what degree various tragedies will stir our sense of outrage. The means by which these events occur are equally or, perhaps, more important. If the mathematical concept of exponents applies to the realm of right and wrong, then it is the Sept. 11 attack that exemplifies it. When the aim of destroying important landmarks and the people within them is achieved through the independently repugnant act of hijacking airplanes, all our emotions are naturally raised to the x power.Acts of terrorism succeed in disturbing our inner being because society at large is harmed through the actions of mere individuals or a select group of them. Natural disasters like the earthquake in India or military actions like the bombing of Pearl Harbor or Hiroshima certainly cause grief, but they also carry with them a system of meaning that helps us deal with that grief. Who can question the will of nations or the temperaments of nature, since these are entities in their own right imbued with a force above and beyond that of the individual?
The Horror
The events of Sept. 11 are also powerful because they force us to confront death in unique ways. There is horror in simply imagining what it must be like to be a passenger in a hijacked airplane knowing that you may be about to crash, or to be a person who is unable to escape the flames of a burning tower and so chooses death by jumping. What are the different mental states that emerge with the knowledge that death will come months or many years later versus in the next 30 or 15 or two minutes?Many have said that this event will mark the beginning of a new era, and I believe this partly arises from a sense that things can only get worse. If terrorists attempt to surpass attacks like these, one wonders what they will come up with next.
More importantly, the reactions that have emerged, though natural and appropriate in their own right, do not transcend common modes of thinking and do not suggest that the world in which we live will change easily or at all. For instance, the U.S. government's response has consisted of an affirmation of U.S. might and a vengeful vow of seeking justice in punishing those responsible for this evil. I would not have expected our government to openly admit that some of the things we do in the world are not in accordance with our ideals of democracy and freedom. But I would have hoped that our leaders would at the very least ask themselves the question that while we do so many good things around the world, are there things we do that are not so good, which lead some people in the world to hate us?
A Mixed Prognosis
Politically, various groups are already appropriating this event to support their own views and further their own cause. The day after the episode, editorials in the New York Times on behalf of the American Jewish community challenged us with the statement "Now you know." Some Arabs in the U.S. and around the world suggested that the one-sided U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East is clearly to blame for what happened.Here in the U.S., I am proud to see that Americans have decided to demonstrate unity in various ways such as displaying flags. At the same time, I am dismayed when I hear about instances of extreme nationalism that have led to attacks on members of certain ethnic groups. I understand that all these reactions have a basis, but once we have had enough time to deal with these events, the challenge lies in whether we as a human race can arrive at a more enlightened framework for thinking, acting, and existing.
The joy I always received in seeing the twin towers whenever I used to visit home will not be there. Our nation, and especially New York City, will never be the same. And probably I myself will not be the same person, though I hope that some of the changes will be for the better.
—Vatsal Doshi, a fourth-year medical student at HMS