It is no accident that the World Trade Centre was struck on September 11. This was an attack that targetted the decadence of free market capitalism as much as it targetted America.
It is an ugly fact. One that the scuffle between New York firefighters and police has brought into relief.
We participate in an economy that can show as callous disregard for the dignity of human life as the terrorists who committed these horrendous acts. Often, money is the bottom line, though it shouldn’t be. The Friday before last, firefighter’s unions complained that the scale back of recovery efforts at the site of the World Trade Center was an effort to save money in overtime wages.
Firefighters claimed that “scoop and dump” recovery with heavy machinery showed a lack of respect for their fallen comrades. (Or, alternatively, that recovered gold and silver led to a slackened interest in recovery efforts.)
But the unions’ motives can seem just as questionable.
If the city was saving money, were rescue workers losing wages? There are many questions, and few answers. Is money an issue? Yes. How big of an issue? It’s hard to say.
But the events of September 11 have shown us how important it should be: not very important at all. Money should be the last thing on our mind right now, though it is…of course… more on our minds than ever.
This is one of many ways that events in a distant city affect the lives of students here. We’ve seen our dollar drop, business suffer, and the economy change. We’ve also seen tragedy—in the United States and elsewhere. And tragedy is educating all of us. Let’s apply that knowledge. Let’s change that bottom line. Let’s put people first, in our own lives, in whatever ways that we can.
