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Emotional Scars Essays

Decent Essays

The Emotional Scars of September 11

Walking past the courthouses and city hall toward Ground Zero, you enter an uncanny world that is both completely familiar and totally strange. Though street signs and landmarks remain unchanged, axes of orientation no longer line up as they once did. It is not just the reduction of people and traffic; something else, something palpable yet far more difficult to articulate is loose on the streets.

I visited the site with my friend, Aaron, who had been in the World Financial Center at the time of the attack. He was not injured but while escaping had images seared in his mind that will change him forever. He felt it was important for him to return to the scene of terror and knew he should not go …show more content…

It is not merely that our screens are too small and camera angles too limited; rather, the reality confronting us is not only visual but, more importantly, visceral. There is only one word I know to describe the response to what we saw: awe. A strange religious atmosphere pervades Ground Zero. There has been much talk about the role of religion in this conflict but very little understanding of what religion-either our own or the religions of others-involves. There are, of course, many gods and many faces of gods believed to be one. While religion often gives people a sense of meaning and purpose in times of personal and social crisis, its symbols, stories and rituals also carry people to the edge of life where unmasterable power always threatens to erupt. Religion is associated as much with terror and anxiety as with love and peace. For a few brief moments on September 11th, the veneer of security was torn to reveal a primordial vulnerability that neither defense departments nor advanced technologies can overcome. The encounter with this awesome power is a religious experience that leaves nothing unchanged.

I don't know how long we lingered-in this realm, time stands still. Eventually, we roamed up Broadway past Trinity Church, whose graveyard is more haunting than ever, to the Wall Street subway station. Descending underground, awe gave way to anxiety. For over a century, philosophers have been telling us that

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