Fifteen years since the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil and the effects of tragedy are still felt near and far.
Fifteen years since and there still is no real answer on how to cope.
In the face of one of the most trying moments of grief and in the aftermath of change lies one question debated among many. USA Today produced the question that sparked an astonishing, yet understandable answer. “Do tragedies like 9/11 have an expiration date?”
In its most simplistic form one would most likely answer no. How could one say that a tragedy that killed 2.977 of people would not have a lasting effect?
Well, the real answer isn’t that simple and can, in some ways, be described as a bit complex, but nonetheless reasonable. Yes, tragedies like 9/11 can have an expiration date and then again no they cannot.
By now I have confused you and you simply cannot fathom how I could justify saying yes.
Look at it this way though: if you did not live through 9/11 how could you be certain that it would not expire?
Still confused? How about this: 9/11 is a lasting memory for those directly affected. In other words, for those who lost family members, friends, coworkers and the like, that day will forever be imbedded in their memories as one of the most tragic events of their lifetime.
Others though, especially those not alive during this horrific tragedy, will live life each day without a second glance as to the policy changes and underlying devastation that rippled across the nation that day. In a way, the day will become just like any other we honor. It will be the next Memorial Day, the next Pearl Harbor.
As much as some would like to relate to the lasting chill that swept the nation into months, even years, of fear they won’t, simply because they didn’t experience first- hand the footage of the wreckage or the tears of a person shaking with fear. Therefore, for some will remember it just as an anniversary. It would be a day spent honoring those of 9/11 and the nation, the world would do that together, but for those directly affected it would be as much of an individual thing as it would a national one.
However, while tragedies like 9/11 can and cannot have an expiration date, the relevance will never fade and neither will its effects. Whether you were alive during 9/11 plays no part in the ongoing effects of that day.
Lives changed, policies changed, relationships changed, the world has changed. For that alone one can say that no, massive tragedies like 9/11 don’t expire. The United States wasn’t just affected, but the entire world. How can the world forget something so awful? It doesn’t.
There will be times where it feels like just an anniversary and then you continue on with life, but it will never be just and anniversary, especially when I see those flags lining the Marano Campus Center and I want to call a friend just to make sure they’re okay.
Years from now when alumni return to campus it will be interesting to see if the Republican Club is still placing flags in front of the campus center as a memorialize the events that happened that day.
