WASHINGTON — Anyone who doubted the resiliency and creativity of the American people had only to look at the variety of ways our nation found to commemorate the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. Would that a fraction of that civic energy could be harnessed for Sept. 12, Sept. 13 and all the days to follow — and for the real challenges this country faces.
The Washington Post took two full pages of last Sunday’s paper just to list the memorial events in the national capital area. A few days earlier, The New York Times published a 12-page special section outlining "cultural events surrounding the week of 9/11." The Wall Street Journal, knowing the travel habits of its executive readers, thoughtfully ran through a selection of related events taking place from Daytona Beach to Seattle.
Poets and painters, writers and composers, clergymen of every denomination, statesmen and politicians and even journalists rose to the challenge and found ways to reflect their reactions to the murderous assault that claimed the lives of more than 3,000 men, women and children, innocent victims of an evil conspiracy of violence.
The variety of expressions was extraordinary. The Chinese-American Arts Council sponsored a Manhattan performance of "Return to Paradise," described as "an opera by Soong Fu-Yuan about two young lovers from different backgrounds during the periods before and after Sept. 11."
In Washington, you could attend "911: A Performance Libation," described as "a free collaborative performance piece from the drama departments of Howard and Catholic universities."
Among the travelers’ recommendations in The Wall Street Journal was an exhibition of 78 funerary urns in niches, created by artist William Morris and displayed at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Va.
Something for every taste, no matter how specialized. And the media were equally fecund with events. Television showed us again the horrific pictures of the destruction of the World Trade Center and the attack on the Pentagon, and took us into the homes of the widows and orphans, the firefighters and rescue workers, whose lives were permanently changed by that day.
These images, even more than the eloquent prose in newspapers and magazines and books published for the anniversary, united the nation in tears and grief. No one could have lived through these last few days without being moved.
Given the power of these emotions, it may be churlish to ask: To what end?
Surely, the victims are worth mourning and the heroes and heroines of 9/11 worth celebrating. But there is inevitably an element of exploitation when the cameras and interviewers ask those who have suffered the loss of a loved one, or shared the trauma of a survivor or a rescuer, to pour out their emotions for our benefit.
A year after Pearl Harbor, the previous worst day for foreign-inflicted American casualties on U.S. soil, we were at war — and the fighting did not stop for a 24-hour extravaganza of remembrance.
Unlike that attack, 9/11 has not stirred the nation to the realization that the United States is under attack — and that life cannot be the same. Our leaders have declared war on terrorism but have not asked the rest of us to give up anything of importance for the cause. There is no draft; no tax cuts have been canceled, let alone any taxes raised to finance the war on terrorism; we have done nothing to cut our dependence on imported oil; and nothing very effective to rally allies for this struggle.
One would have thought, from the genuine emotions a year ago and the stimulated emotions of the last few days, that at least 9/11 would have sobered this society and reminded us what is important to our democracy.
But I see no signs of our shaking off the trivialization of our attention. I was in North Carolina last week, where 15 men and women—most of whom had some serious thoughts to offer — were vying for the nomination to succeed retiring Sen. Jesse Helms.
But the local TV news and the front-page headlines were focused on the controversy over which of two young women would represent North Carolina in the Miss America contest — the one whose ex-boyfriend had some topless pictures of her or the recruited substitute.
Have we really been changed by 9/11? Have we extracted from that event a lesson that raises our sights above the start of the football season, the new crop of TV cop shows and sitcoms, or the gyrations of the stock market?
I would like to think so, but I fear that 9/11 has become just another diversion.
David Broder can be reached at The Washington Post Writers Group, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, DC 20071-9200.
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