Writing in the dust on 9/11
By Mark Vernon on Tuesday, September 6 2011, 10:18 - Personal observations - Permalink
As the hype up to the anniversary of 9/11 reaches full steam, I am trying to remember the thought of some of the New Yorkers who were on the recent religion and violence seminar.
They observed that whilst the world heard George Bush declare a war on terror, and saw Tony Blair fall into line like a lieutenant, many who lived in the city preferred silence. They lit candles. They attended vigils. They squared up to the horror not with cries of justice and vengeance, but with remarkable compassion and calm.
We had been talking about Rowan Williams' book, Writing in the Dust, his reflections on the day in which he too was caught up. The title comes from the story of Jesus being presented with the woman caught in adultery, the pharisees demanding an instant respond. Jesus writes in the dust.
Williams reflects that there is a satisfaction to be had in responding quickly, dramatically. It feels like you are doing something meaningful, taking control. 'What makes discharging tension attractive is that it is an act that has a beginning and an end.' But the end often slips from view; the promise of closure revealed as an illusion. A different approach is to stay with the vulnerability. It's harder to do - impossible for politicians - though it was the example of the emergency services, Williams believes, who are practiced 'living in the presence of death'.
'Simone Weil said that the danger of imagination was that it filled up the void when we need to learn how to live in the presence of the void.' It's from the void that faith might return.
The anniversary is being marked by action programming that covers the story from every possible angle, as if desperate to fill the void. But I think too of the thought of the New Yorkers.
(Image: Scotty Weaver mourns the loss of son, P.O. Walter Weaver ESU Truck #3, during 9/11 Memorial Service at Ground Zero. Andrea Booher/FEMA)
Comments
'Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.'
To some extent, we are all guilty of filling that void, aren't we, even if it is with our words or our thoughts rather than through strategies involving military hardware and security laws. I am doing it now.
And sometimes, the void does need filling, when it presents itself to other people as something too difficult to bear. Under such circumstances, those who can act effectively are the fortunate ones. And those who can act while remaining aware of the vulnerability are possibly the most fortunate of all. Politicians are those who - prior to the event - are confident that they have what it takes to act effectively and with grace. We only find out later if their confidence was well-founded.
Susan Sontag was a famous New Yorker when the World Trade Center was destroyed, and had some views about that event -- views quickly called by the _Chicago Tribune_, "stupefyingly dumb." I for one admire this final paragraph of hers from _The New Yorker_, September 24, 2001: ..Politics, the politics of a democracy--which entails disagreement, which promotes candor--has been replaced by psychotherapy. Let's by all means grieve together. But let's not be stupid together. A few shreds of historical awareness might help us to understand what has just happened, and what may continue to happen. "Our country is strong", we are told again and again. I for one don't find this entirely consoling. Who doubts that America is strong? But that's not all America has to be. http://groups.colgate.edu/aarislam/...