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September 11, 2001.
Today is the anniversary of Kate Wills' great-grandfather Harry Tyson's birthday (he was born in 1898, I think, which is very nearly a century before Kate's date of birth, Sept 13).
It is not the reason for adding this entry to my diary.
01.09.11 will be instantly recognised for at least the next 100 years, as the "Day of Terror" in Manhattan, N.Y.
For the rest of their lives most people will remember where they were; what they felt; as they watched the drama played out. For my grandchildren who may not have witnessed the scenes as they were played out - live - on several television stations, or understood what silly-adults were fretting about, let me record one person's reactions.
I was busy trying to finish off our "Laugh the Beloved Country" anthology of SA humour (I was writing a piece about laughter from the courts) when Arlene called me to come and watch. Regrettably I insisted, as usual, on finishing the chapter. But I went downstairs in time to be told that the north tower of the World Trade Centre had been hit by a passenger plane. Then we saw a second plane fly into the south tower; we watched the flames burning in the Pentagon; and frantic people talking about "more planes coming, one has crashed. . ."
I could not help wondering if this was a computer created hoax. . . a TV programme repeating the famous radio play of Orson Wells which caused so much panic in the 1950s. But mine was a passing whimsy caused by the incredible reality.
We watched the south tower collapse with, we were told, an estimated possible 10,000 occupants. Then the first target, the north tower, fell within itself. Then, under the pressure of all those tens of thousands of tons of falling concrete and steel, a neighbouring building half the height - but higher than any skyscraper in Africa - collapsed on its shaken foundations.
"The world will never be the same," exclaimed one shocked, bewildered, but insightful tv commentator.
There are many degrees of meaning to such a statement, but I simply want to record - immediately and without the benefit of the hindsight that will be available, even within a month - that the commentator was right in many ways.
Manhattan will have a different skyline, of course (I think that was what he was talking about). But Western culture may, if we are lucky, have a shift in perspective, if ever so slight. Perhaps we shall gradually pull back from the era of instant self-gratification to one in which other people and other things beside our own 'highs' and 'kicks' are important. The scenes in America at this moment are reminiscent, not only of blitzed wreckage of London nearly 60 years ago, but also of the attitude and behaviour of London's citizens under Hitler's threat. It is illuminating to see that the attitudes and behaviour of the American public today seem very different to those which existed 24 hours previously. I hope that some of the new perspectives will stick.
One change I will bet on is that the I.R.A. will never hold up its head again. This is because the IRA assassins were financed and encouraged by Americans - the very same ethnic group whose leaders scream today for the elimination of global terrorism. And if the IRA are deprived of any illusion of moral sanction, so too will be their terrorist opponents among the Protestants. Let's hope other terrorism can also be, at the least, dramatically curbed; and without too much new hate and too many new global schisms . Will the new resolve also lead to a greater curb on drug-pedalling and crime, I wonder. And a better appreciation of how small the globe is, and how dangerous the disparity in life-sustaining resources?
What is patently obvious, and already being broadcast over the air-waves, is that war will never be the same again. Just as warfare was changed forever by Boer guerrillas in 1901 after long lines of regular, uniformed British soldiers were outfought by handfuls of sharpshooters, so in 2001, warfare has been changed by fanatical terrorists who outwitted all of America's multi-billion-dollar technical wizardry. Now democracy itself may change its style, perhaps . . .
And there are other changes. . . but you will see them better than I can at this 'moment in time'.
Perhaps the only point that needs to be noted is that this day, 01.09.11, is the most globally significant socio-political event of the past 50 years; more important even than the fall of the Berlin Wall which signified the end of the Cold War and set much of the world free.
However, in trying to judge the "importance" on mankind's actions, I am always reminded of what "Cappie" Rich, told us in school one day. He was our history teacher, a hero in the Great War (1914-1918) who blew himself up in one of the world's first active armoured tanks rather than let the stalled vehicle fall into German hands.
I often thought about that: Young Captain Rich ordered his men to escape, then, all alone, he deliberately blew himself up in his invulnerable armoured tank. His value system, his belief, demanded it. He believed he was saving lives; shortening war; frustrating the wicked German cousins, by preventing WWI's secret weapon falling into enemy hands. He survived, half a man, with a silver plate for part of a skull, and indescribable, permanent bodily damage.
Besides history, he taught us about the second "war to end all wars" going on all around us at the time. His wisdom and knowledge of war seemed infinite. However, to our astonishment, he announced one day - possibly the very day that a quarter of a million Germans and Russians were trying to pound each other to death in a single battle at Stalingrad: "Boys, I've just found a small item of news which, if true, is more important that all of the events of this awful war. . ."
Our excitement could hardly be contained.
"
There is a paragraph in the papers," he said "which reports that a cure for cancer has been found."
What an anti-climax for bloodthirsty little boys, hoping to be soldiers one day.
And what a wide perspective Captain Rich had.
Yet was it the wisest perception? Was the elimination of one cause of human death more "important" than the elimination of Nazism and tyranny? Perhaps you cannot measure these things. Perhaps the best we can do is keep our minds open, as 'Cappie' Rich tried to teach us to do.
01.09.11 is a date that just possibly might help some political leaders to do that.
But first we have to get through the instant reaction of a grieving, angry super-power seeking retribution. . . . may be next week, or next month, or next year. Or, God forbid, next decade.
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Note, five years later, 2006: No good came out of 9/11. Instead WE WERE BUSH-WHACKED!. |
