SEPTEMBER 11, 2001
On this day, a series of events transpired that permanently transformed the course of humanity. The events and the motivations that produced them cast a dark and hideous shadow on the delicate human phenomenon that we call civilization.
Civilization
represents the amalgamation of collective human experience.
All of the geographical, political, cultural, technological, and
relational experiences that have affected humanity over time become the
ingredients of civilization. There
have been countless instances over the course of civilization that have involved
tragic and nefarious circumstances that people have inflicted upon one another.
Examples of these circumstances have involved wars, deception,
corruption, persecution, and other evils and atrocities that are so horrific
that they seemingly defy description.
Certain
notorious circumstances, however, have represented the fringe of evil and
injustice and are thereby noteworthy for their profound and lasting effect on
humanity. These types of
circumstances have left an indelible and disfiguring scar on the face of
humanity. They are circumstances
that are so grotesque in their spiritual and interpersonal meaning that they
injure the very essence of being.
The
circumstances of September 11, 2001 are a striking example of ones that meet
this criterion. The reason for this
is evident when we closely examine what really took place on September 11, 2001.
Those events are popularly described as “terrorism”, but yet the word
terrorism in its limited definition does not adequately capture the depth and
implications of what transpired on that infamous day.
This is because the word terrorism is too shallow and too lukewarm a word
to adequately describe the grotesque distortion that occurred of the core
principles that comprise the foundation of civilization.
People
have certain expectations about one another.
There is a tacit set of “rules of engagement” that acts as a code of
interaction among people. These
rules cross all of the geopolitical and sociocultural boundaries of the world
and emanate from a primal and instinctive source.
When one of the more essential of these rules is inexplicably violated,
the result can be cataclysmic because people’s perceptions of themselves, as
well as people’s perceptions about one another, become irrevocably shattered.
This
elicits a very powerful set of counteractive perceptions, and ultimately
emotions, that can have a very corrosive effect on the impressions that people
formulate of themselves as participants in civilization as well as their
impressions about their relationships with other people within the collective
experience of life. Among the most
influential of these counteractive emotions are fear, mistrust, apprehension,
detachment and isolation. Emotions
such as these tend to pollute the collective consciousness and weaken the
fragile bonds that hold the world community together via the sophisticated
paradigm that we refer to as civilization.
There
are also universal principles, morals and spiritual beliefs to which human
beings are innately and instinctively drawn.
These principles, morals and religious beliefs are highly synergistic and
together constitute the platform upon which civilization is constructed. When an event occurs that threatens to destabilize that
platform, the result can be catastrophic. The
catastrophic outcome is not as much dependent upon the degree of damage that
occurs to the physical manifestations of the platform, in this case the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon. Rather,
the irreparable damage emanated from the violation of the structural integrity
of the platform, in this case, the principles, morals and spiritual beliefs of
the people of the world community who construed the damaged edifices and the
ruined lives as symbols of fundamental injustice.
In
summary, the meaning of the events that took place on
September 11, 2001 can be interpreted in a variety of different ways.
Perhaps the most profound meaning involves something that was lost by
humanity that will perhaps never be recovered.
Our civilization lost some of its structural integrity.
Perceptions of the intangible, most salient components of civilization
that are derived from its principles, morals and spiritual beliefs including
codes of ethics, values, lifestyles, etc. will hereby forever be weakened.
Future generations will be affected by this weakness via a diminution in
the quality of their collective experience.
They will fear each other a little more, trust each other a little less,
be a little more apprehensive of each other’s motives and detach from intimacy
in seemingly imperceptible yet additive increments.
The price for pollution of the collective consciousness can under such
extraordinary circumstances prove to be very expensive.
This is because there are some experiences that affect people that are so
pervasive that they bring about an impact that is so dramatic that it is largely
unaffected by whatever follows.
In
summary, there is unfortunately a category of experiences that human beings can
be subjected to from which they will never fully emotionally recover. The experiences are simply too damaging to the ways in which
people perceive themselves, other people and the world at large to ever allow
for a return to the emotional and relational state(s) that preceded the
experiences. If a large enough
proportion of the world’s population, via our sophisticated telecommunications
system, encounters the damaging effects of experiences such as those that
occurred on September 11th, then the destiny of civilization becomes
jeopardized.
Like other horrific events that have injured the structural integrity of civilization over many eons, the events of September 11, 2001 have now permanently been incorporated into the collective conscience of humanity. Humanity will consequently never be the same. In spite of the intensified levels of patriotism, pluralism and intimacy that have now flourished in America, the bonds connecting all of the people in the world civilization have been inexorably compromised. We are left to ponder what antecedents could have been so influential and what motives could have been so pernicious to have brought about such a catastrophic outcome.
Michael Pappafagos, Ed. D.
Executive Director
Lighthouse School,
Inc