by Roy C. Hengerson
Legislative Chairman
The incredible tragedy of the massive death and destruction caused by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 was a stunning blow to our nation. Having grown up in New York City and still having family living there, plus having made many, many trips to both Washington, D.C., and New York City over the years probably heightened my sense of shock and dismay. However, even now, I sense a profound impact on America’s psyche that will not soon diminish. There is a tremendous sense of vulnerability that even our power and might as a nation cannot seem to offset.
Several million years ago there was a period of massive extinction of many species, most notably the dinosaurs. These large reptiles died out, while at the same time much smaller mammals somehow survived. More recently, large mammals such as the wooly mammoth and the mastodon became extinct, while other, smaller, mammals lived on. Today it is the larger animals who seem to be having a harder time of surviving. In general, the insects and microorganisms seem to be surviving quite well.
Yet we humans seem to equate size, power, and might with invulnerability. Remember how they thought the Titanic was unsinkable until she sank on her maiden voyage. Having many more small lifeboats on board would have saved many lives when the great unsinkable ship went down.
We humans also seem to have great faith, even excessive faith in my view, in technology. Maybe that is because we think we have invented it - it is our god and we can control it. But can we? Mostly yes. But there periodically occur events when nature or the evil intent of other human beings or even unforeseen consequences cause our technology to go badly awry. Our own commercial jet airliners were turned into unbelievably destructive guided missiles by a few hijackers armed only with crude, primitive weapons. These few individuals were able, using surprise as a major element in their attack, to destroy huge, towering office complexes.
Once damaged, the monumental towers of the World Trade Center succumbed to the forces of nature - fires burning out of control weakened the steel structure as the entire edifice surrendered to the force of gravity. Thousands trapped in the towers died. Everything in them was obliterated. The Pentagon, also a huge structure, faired somewhat better since it was lower, closer to the ground, less vulnerable to being brought down by an aircraft hit.
In a similar way, the United States of America has unwittingly made itself more vulnerable by becoming the world’s lone superpower. When we had the Soviet Union, and earlier Germany and Japan, as major enemies, other countries could be the focus of hostility. Now the U.S. alone is singled out for blame by a diverse array of terrorist groups discontent with the state of the world. And we will shortly bear the vast majority of the cost of being the world’s policeman to combat terrorism.
And there are other dangers lurking besides terrorism. Who knows what disasters are waiting to happen due to global climate change brought on by the environmental effects of our global enterprises. Maybe keeping some small scale economic “lifeboats” on hand and functioning may save us from large crises or disruptions to the global economy.
I am not suggesting that we yield to terrorism. I am not suggesting that we disengage from the world. What I am suggesting is that we reflect on the tragic events of September 11 and rebuild with some thought about the inherent vulnerability of being large, of living and working in grand edifices, of relying on massive technologies. That in our response to this terrorist attack, we understand that we are a mighty nation, but only 5% of the world’s population using over 25% of the world’s natural and energy resources. That our future direction contemplate a more humble attitude about our role in the world.
Such a response may even make us less vulnerable to future disasters of many kinds, not just terrorist attacks.
For more information contact: Roy Hengerson, 2201 Weathered Rock Rd., Jefferson City, MO. 65101, 573-635-8066, roy.hengerson@sierraclub.org