The tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks is right around the corner. In addition to sharing the horror of that day as a citizen of both America and the world, I have a personal connection as well. It is not something about which I talk much in private and I really never speak of it in public. However, on this occasion, I think it fitting to do so. After all, as time passes, events such as 09/11 become commemorations of the historical occurrences, not of the people involved. The attack on Pearl Harbor is a good example. When we mark it at all today in America, it is the attack that we remember. Very rarely do we mark the lives of those directly touched -- and lost -- that day. This is human nature and because this is so, remembering these lost people seems necessary.
Four members of my extended family were murdered on 09/11. This was the largest total for one family. Two of those lost were children, the youngest victims. I note this not to say that my family suffered more than others. Pain and loss are not contests and even were they, no one could win. Rather, that a family was killed by men who they had never met speaks to the brutality of their actions. When I think of 09/11, like many I think of the planes and the buildings and the rubble. I also see four faces.
My mother's cousin Leslie Whittington, her husband Charles Falkenberg, and their two daughters, Zoe Falkenberg and Dana Falkenberg were on Flight 77 that was flown into the Pentagon. They were on their way to Australia. As it happens, my wife's colleagues saw this plane fly over DC, the city in which she was then living. The plane flew almost at eye level right past their building. It went in low and shallow, not steep like the plane in Pennsylvania. I hope that this lack of a dive may have spared its passengers -- or at least the children -- the stark terror of the sure knowledge that a dive would have provoked. Obviously, there is no way to know, but I hold to the comfort that this wish brings me.
I was not overly close with this family. I attended their wedding. I was told of the births of Zoe and Dana on telephone calls with my mother. I never actually met Dana; Leslie was pregnant with her the final time we saw each other. I met Zoe only once or twice and saw Leslie and Charles perhaps eight or ten times in my life. Their deaths shook me, but did not destroy my life. However, I have seen the toll their deaths inflicted on their close relatives who survived them. Those are lives altered beyond belief.
Many members of my family will be attending the memorial events this weekend in Washington DC. I look forward to discussing them with my mother and her siblings next week when they return home. Leslie's family is being remembered in two television programs. On Friday the 9th, the CBS Early Show will have a feature on Zoe. CNN Headline News will have something on the family in its 5 PM Eastern segment that same day and again at this same hour on Monday the 12th. Watch them or record them if you can. These people deserve to be remembered.
As you mark that terrible day, as we all mark that day, let us remember the people and the events. And let us all heal as we are able.
8 September 2011
14 September 2011 Addition: Here is a link to the CBS video. Zoe's feature is near the middle.
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