Nearly seven years after the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, authorities at Logan International Airport finished a memorial to acknowledge those affected by the devastating attacks on that day. While a memorial provides a good reminder, people cannot stop there when it comes to remembering and honoring those killed in the Sept. 11 attacks. But remembrance of a tragedy itself is not enough — physical tributes mean nothing without real aid and assistance to the still-living victims of tragedies themselves.
American Airlines Flight 11, which crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York, departed from Boston early that morning and was hijacked by terrorists en route to Los Angeles International Airport. Now, a $3.5 million memorial has been built at the flight’s origin. Though the expense of the memorial was worth what it cost taxpayers, it would be a tragedy if donors neglected to also support the people who were directly affected that day. With victims’ families’ memorial funds drying up, and firefighters complaining of cut benefits, this is more than a hypothetical problem.
This double tragedy has afflicted the country before. The Vietnam War Memorial, the famous jet slab that stretches nearly 250 feet along the Washington Mall, lists more than 55,000 men and women recorded as killed or missing in action during the Vietnam War. It has become a tourist attraction over the years, where high schools take students on field trips and families scratch pencils over the engraved names of loved ones. The wall is remembrance embodied.
Conversely, thousands of Vietnam veterans — people who are still a part of that history at the memorial — sleep on the streets every night because they have been forgotten. Those not on the streets may stay in Veterans Affairs hospitals that have been exposed for maltreatment. The wall was created so people would never forget about Americans’ sacrifice in Vietnam, the men and women who served and the lives that were lost. But many Vietnam veterans are the very same homeless people whom passers by ignore on the streets everyday without a second glance.
Memorials aren’t constructed to beautify their surroundings — they’re built to force people to remember traumas they might want to forget. Americans need to couple that remembrance with action to help care for those victims. The families affected by Sept. 11 will never be the same. Funds have been created, but they do not necessarily reach every home that lost its breadwinner to a terrorist attack. Victims, from surviving office workers to the families of slain firefighters, have voiced concerns over dwindling support funds.
Seven years later, Americans still remember and want to honor those who were killed; either victims or the brave men and women who went in after them and in turn lost their own lives. The nation needs to not only still remember 30 years from now, it has to still care 30 years from now. Keep making donations, volunteering and helping victims’ families. Popular car decals read: “9/11: Never Forget.” Let’s stick to that.
