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Common Sense Departed On 9/11

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By JOHN NASH

Of Cabbages and Kings

Published: August 5, 2008

We just noted the first anniversary of the collapse of a rather ordinary bridge in Minneapolis. A handful of unfortunate souls (13) perished in that unexpected event, but, reportedly, Minneapolis is treating the relatively trivial incident as some sort of national disaster, which deserves to be remembered and honored with minutes of silence, prayers, news blurbs, etc.
The state's legislature has even approved compensation payments of about $2.9 million to each surviving family of those killed in that seemingly minor incident. Wait a minute: Do we similarly honor the memory of really important events, such as the dastardly attack on Pearl Harbor, in which thousands of our countrymen were killed, and most of the Pacific Fleet sent to the bottom?
No!
What's the difference? That's a bothersome question, which, so I think anyway, demands thoughtful discussion.
A partial answer might be found in that most of us have no recollection of what happened in 1941, but can vividly recall the exhaustive (and exhausting) television coverage of a highway bridge collapsing just months ago, sending a handful of cars tumbling into the waters below. Yes, the immediacy and visual stimulation of the boob tube do serve to impress us with events of relatively insignificant status, but that alone doesn't help to explain why we have become so inexplicably, and unjustifiably, concerned with the "rights" of relatives who lost someone in one of those reported "disasters."
The question actually seems to defy analysis, because all related events and resultant government actions are irrational, illogical and unreasonable. The first applicable national "disaster" we can look at is the April 1995 bombing of the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City. One hundred sixty-eight died in that terrorist bombing. Surviving families received about $230,000 each, provided by donations from charities and individuals; they were also granted a two-year exemption from paying federal income taxes.
Six years later, when lunatic Islamic terrorists drove commandeered commercial aircraft into the World Trade Center (WTC), 2,750 unfortunates perished. This time, the federal government rode to their rescue with something around $2 million, tax free, for each surviving family; many of whom had already received hundreds of thousands from charitable contributions, as well as substantial payments from insurance companies.
Although that handout shocked all thinking persons, because it clearly set a very dangerous precedent, few were willing to publicly criticize the undeserved compensation, because irrational, emotional public sentiment was in favor of the unnecessary gifts. Some time later, the mayor of Oklahoma City was courageous enough to observe, "We think victims' compensation is opening Pandora's box. Once you go there, where do you stop? What's the value of a life, whether it is a bond trader in the World Trade Center, or a sergeant in Afghanistan?"
Because of the shocking, unjustified, enrichment of relatives of those killed on Sept. 11, 2001, others who have lost relatives in traumatic incidents sometimes wonder why they also haven't become millionaires.
We have, seemingly, arrived at a point in our helter-skelter rush towards socialism, in which we expect our government to not only provide free health care, college educations, unemployment pay, debt relief and guaranteed retirement, but to even pay us large amounts of cash for injuries, disabilities and — especially — for unexpected death of a relative — even an uncle, twice removed.
We can ill afford to pay the staggering bill that would accrue if the policy were to be fairly applied to all untimely deaths, since no one premature death is more tragic or significant than any other. A child killed in an automobile accident in Florida yesterday, will affect his parents just as much as an adult who was killed in the attack on the Murrah Federal Building. Is a son blown to pieces by an IED in Iraq less deserving of our largesse than a person accidentally killed because he just happened to be in the WTC? Is a mother of three, killed by a rare disease at age 45, less deserving of the government's generosity than someone who just happened to be in one of the aircraft used to bomb the WTC?
I sure hope that you agree that any life lost prematurely is as tragic and significant as may be any other. If not, we're in worse shape than even this admitted pessimist believes.
If you do agree with my conclusion, and with Mayor Humphreys of Oklahoma City, that the shocking "compensation" paid to still-dissatisfied relatives of the victims of Sept. 11, set a terrible precedent, which must be corrected now and forever, then let's demand that our representatives in Congress publicly admit to having made a major error in the unjustified billions paid to relatives of those who perished in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11. Then let us also demand legislation to prevent any similar, future repetition.
That is, unless you believe that every spouse of every service member killed in the line of duty should receive $2 million tax free, as should the survivors of every person killed on our murderous highways and all others dieing of other-than-natural results of the human aging process.

Of Cabbages and Kings is a regular column in Hernando Today. The author welcomes rational comment sent to john@have-eye.com.

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