The Tragedy-What Can We Do?

By Joanie Connors

September 11, 2001

From the International Peace Practitioners’ Network Listserve

In writing this, I hope to be able to start a dialogue about how to respond to this tragedy in a positive way. It is important that someone take the initiative to quell the panic and the hate that seems to be following these destructive acts, and I hope that those of us who believe in peace will be at the forefront.

These are the positive responses that I was able to come up with:

• We can remind others that they are safe now and that the future depends on us continuing to act with good will and for the betterment of all. We are in good hands.

• We can remind others that thousands of others have acted heroically and responsibly in the rescue effort, and some have given their lives to save others. It is also reported that the majority of people on the lower floors of the World Trade Center were evacuated safely before the collapse, and that people were cooperative during the evacuation.

• We can remind others that this is a time to truly appreciate our governments, and those who work in them to provide our security. We can also remember to appreciate how our daily lives depend on others doing their part, as well as to appreciate those we care for.

• We can remind others that the United States is a very strong country that will recover from this and eventually learn from this. This tragedy will also require higher levels of collaboration and communication between nations and heads of state.

• We can remind others that a very small group of people committed this act and that it does not represent an act of war by a state, by the Arab peoples or by Islamic peoples. That neither the Palestinian people nor the Palestinian state were behind this act. If perhaps this was done in the name of the Palestinian people, they did not ask for it anymore than anyone asked for the Oklahoma City bombing.

• We can remind people that hate and revenge are what created this tragedy and that to give way to hate and revenge is to let this tragedy demean and lessen us.

• We can remember that understanding something this massive and monstrous will take a long time, and that the dialogue we will engage in about this will be healthy and worthwhile. This dialogue will also be revealing about the current state of national and international problem solving and relations.

There will be much we can learn about the state of the world and the way to peace from this. Unfortunately, it will be a long, long road and there is much sadness and terrible grief to bear in the meantime.