9/11/01
54 Responses to 9/11/01
← Older Comments-
JonF says:
Franklin,
My father beheld one of those concentration camps just hours after its initial liberation. Amid his other happy tales of liberating French wine cellars and gallantly restoring the morale of assorted mademoiselles, that was one dark war story he insisted we hear. It’s graven deep in my own memory as if he transferred it to me directly. I’d be more likely to join the Moonies than ever to give credence to Holocaust deniers.
And yet he TOLD the story with words. Maybe pictures are worth a thousand words, but sometimes words penetrate deeper and are of more lasting power. The old Greek tragedies managed to appall without one drop of blood being shed on stage. And no one snapped a photo of the Crucifixion and Resurrection– or of Mohammed preaching for that matter, or the Buddha gaining Enlightenment– yet those words have held for millennia. -
Joanna says:
@ Franklin Evans,
My grandfather (who fought on the pacific front)told us of seeing the pictures of the concentration camps. I had not known the images were mandated. I think we must bear witness to these things.
-
Franklin Evans says:
Jon: I have a very strong affinity for the old bardic traditions, those men (very rarely women) who traveled the Isles or the continent and were the only source of information for the masses. People flocked to the local gathering place — usually the tavern or inn — to hear the bards sing stories of a much wider world.
That tradition, for better and worse, is now carried on by our modern entertainment media. We no longer invest the time to listen to storytellers unless it is relatively convenient (tv and theaters), or there is positive social pressure (concerts).
I submit that it is the impact and lasting influence that is most important. Hearing your father talk was by far the most impactful experience for you, moreso I’m sure than any tv program or movie. Most of our generations had no such person in our families. My mother was a European Jew whose immediate family escaped, and even she didn’t know that full extent of the horror. Her stories were hair-raising and poignant, but pale in comparison.
Eisenhower had the right idea. He knew that the world, but most importantly his fellow citizens, needed to see those films, unedited and in their full, graphic horror. Such imagery is never going to be for everyone, no argument there, but for the vast majority its impact and lasting influence cannot be surpassed by any verbal or written mode.
I’m severely conflicted over this. I gave my full support to President Bush’s decision to invade Afghanistan. I found his decision to invade Iraq immoral at best. I have watched since then people wilfully ignoring Benjamin Franklin’s admonition about trading liberty for safety, with our Congresscritters leading that charge.
Then, I remember sitting in the school auditorium in 7th grade. The lights dimmed, and the unedited footage filmed by journalists as the US Army liberated the Nazi death camps streamed by and left its indelible mark on my soul. I look back on that, and I acknowledge the pain experienced by my 13-year-old self while nodding in agreement with the decision to make us watch it.
Does anyone know or remember that Gen. Eisenhower mandated the release of those unedited films, while ordering all US troops on on the front line to witness them personally? One can well imagine the lasting horror of those images in the minds of many of those men, images one can be sure they would not want to revisit.
In the end, we have a choice. We can enjoy the quiet life of inner America, buffered by distance and time from the acts of those who count themselves our enemies. I hope those making that choice avoid the intensity of feelings should catastrophe manage to visit them despite it.
Or, we can acknowledge what liberty means: It comes with a price. The greater the freedoms, the dearer the price.
That tragic, heartrending picture is the check we signed when we called ourselves free, and it came due. Many reacted by tearing up their checks. Which, do you think, is the more horrible result?