c. 2007 Religion News Service
NEW YORK _ As another 9/11 arrives, many are asking, Will this be the last year that churches and civic bodies hold memorial services and other acts of remembrance?
This year’s 9/11 was a Tuesday, the same weekday in 2001 when terrorists made three coordinated assaults on American cities. Here in New York, churches held memorials for first-responders and World Trade Center workers, as well as interfaith services to show continuing solidarity among Jews, Muslims and Christians.
Maybe this will complete the cycle of intense remembrance and cause 9/11 to join 12/2007 as a “day of infamy” that some feel acutely, but most don’t.
Except for politicians who continue to mine 9/11 for campaign gold, most Americans seem to have moved on. Here in New York, where an entire city felt targeted, the question is more delicate. Passions still are high, memories keen. Even here, however, churches are saying this might be the final year of special events, not because people are callous, but because life does move on.
New York firefighters, for example, for whom 9/11 was a defining moment, recently filled Fifth Avenue with lines of blue to honor last month’s victims of their dangerous profession. Politicians are dealing with the start of public schools and don’t welcome a former mayor’s presidential aspirations on a 9/11 stage.
Many are furious, here and elsewhere, that the lessons and solidarity of 9/11 were so quickly manipulated into war chants, and that this politicians’ war has left the nation more vulnerable than before.
How do you pause to remember when you know that your solemn respect will be exploited by the political class?
This is the ugly side of grief. Entire industries prey on the trauma of personal loss. Lawyers hawk their services for blame-and-profit lawsuits. Funeral providers push expensive products onto grieving families who simply want to put loved ones into the ground. Financial advisers descend on the widowed, hoping to turn momentary confusion into a lucrative deal. Thieves prowl the obituaries to find houses that will be empty during funerals.
The word “Katrina” has become shorthand for such mining of grief. Politicians make fly-bys to the Gulf Coast, government agencies joust for bureaucratic victory, vendors chase big contracts and casino operators tap financial despair. Meanwhile, on the ground, communities remain in shambles and insurance companies abandon policyholders.
I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised. In a predatory economy where everything from acne to prostate glands can be turned into big business, grief is just another market, tragedy another photo op.
I remember accompanying a grieving parishioner to a funeral parlor, where a smooth mortician tried to shame her into buying an expensive coffin that she couldn’t afford.
On the other hand, I remember a group of church women who formed a cordon around a new widow and kept her safe from wave after wave of exploiters. They gave her room to grieve. I was confused by their protectiveness, until I saw the pile of business cards left by lawyers and financial advisers.
I don’t know what the right call on 9/11 observances will be. Grieving rarely proceeds in an orderly manner. Community tragedy can have a long life. Lessons from suffering keep unfolding.
But I do know that faithful people need to sit with the grieving and shield them from the predators.
(Tom Ehrich is a writer, church consultant and Episcopal priest based in New York. He is the author of “Just Wondering, Jesus,” and the founder of the Church Wellness Project, http://www.churchwellness.com. His Web site is http://www.morningwalkmedia.com.)
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