It would seem there has been a considerable amount of remembering to be done in the last few weeks – on both a local and global scale.
On campus, we’ve seen the 30th anniversary of the Kappa Sigma house fire, which claimed the lives of five members of the Baker University community. On a national level, the one-year anniversary of hurricane Katrina was a topic of discussion, not only to remember the catastrophe but also to realize what still must be done. Monday, America will mark the fifth anniversary of what many would call the worst moment in America’s history – the attacks of 9/11.
Though engaging in an ever-continuing cycle of remembering events that have taken place in the past may seem repetitive, there is a definite value in doing so.
The notion of remembrance serves both society and individuals on numerous levels.
For those who have personally been affected by tragedies that have taken place in the past, memories and ceremonial activities that encourage those memories serve to control a continual pain that continues in their thoughts.
Parents of two of the men killed in the Kappa Sigma fire of 1976 attended the 30th anniversary memorial service. In their faces and in their conversations, it was apparent that the loss of a son had proven to be something that had plagued them through the decades.
The same must be true for the survivors of hurricane Katrina, 9/11 and other incidents, whether they be on a global, local or even personal scale.
The act of remembering the past also gives individuals a sense of purpose and understanding. This is true not only of tragedies but of triumphs in a person’s own history. Whether it is a moment of great joy or overwhelming sadness, each moment that seems extraordinary gives another entry in the definition of a person and a life.
As birth, marriage, love and prosperity give meaning to a life, the loss of those things do not take away but rather alter those aspects of a person’s being. It would seem that life is a series of notable milestones with mundane lulls in between.
On a social level, the act of remembering is of utmost importance. The old saying is true – history repeats itself.
However, the hope must be that the repetition of atrocious events in the past can be avoided through a continual memory of and dialogue concerning the causes and consequences of actions in the past.
From the hurricane that devastated New Orleans, a lesson must be learned. The city and the nation were not prepared for a catastrophe of such a large scale. There is an effort to rebuild the city and the lives of the people within it, but there must also be an effort for every city nationwide and even worldwide to prepare for a similar situation.
One of the largest topics to result from Katrina has been the treatment of race and social class not only in southern Louisiana but everywhere. The victims of the hurricane had no chance of escape, no relief during the storm and little hope afterward.
However, the victims weren’t just victims of a hurricane but also victims of a social distinction in which upper-class citizens are deemed deserving of personal safety while lower classes are not.
From the fraternity fire of ’76, a number of lessons were learned about fire safety and the precautions necessary to ensure that another fatal fire could not plague not only Baker’s campus but rather any campus in the country.
The lessons to be learned from 9/11 also are immense. Security by airlines and individual airports has been heightened considerably in the five years since the hijacking of the planes on that September morning.
However, there are a number of social lessons to be considered when examining what has happened since and before the attacks.
Though people may have set opinions, it will always be valuable in modern society to have a continuous dialogue about the treatment of other peoples, the relations with other countries, the stereotypes of members of other races and religions, the freedom of democracy and of America and the way people value life and those within their lives.
You can’t change the past, but you can change the future. The best way, it would seem, to determine which direction to and not to take in the future would be to remember what’s been done in the past.