THERE IS NO COMPARISON

Each generation identifies with a tragic event that becomes a
defining moment, but most Americans agree the terrorist attacks on
American soil are 'beyond anything.' 


By Steve Lord 
STAFF WRITER 

Where you were.

That's something everyone will remember about Sept. 11, 2001.

   It is one of those frozen moments, emblazoned on the mind — a memory
sure to forever produce a chill down the spine, and that empty, helpless feeling
of sorrow and rage in our gut.

   Time has a way of calming the immediate reaction. No amount of time,
however, will erase the deep-down invasion of our souls by terrorists who
brazenly took thousands of innocent lives in our own country in front of our
eyes on Sept. 11, 2001.

The date takes its place with others we have come to memorialize:

Dec. 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor was attacked.
 
June 6, 1944, D-Day, when allies invaded France.

Nov. 22, 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

Jan. 28, 1986, when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded.

April 19, 1995, when the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was
bombed.

   Humans compare, so, to look at these larger-than-life, potentially
life-changing events in relation to each other is natural.

   It also is natural for ensuing generations to remember a certain event as
"theirs."

   The World War II generation sees Pearl Harbor as the life-changing event; the
baby boomers see Kennedy's assassination that way, and Generation X sees
the space shuttle explosion, or possibly the beginning of the Gulf War, in that
vein.

   There seems to be one thing, though, that all these generations who share
America agree upon this week. This is the worst.

   "There's a big difference when you have it on TV, when you could see what
was going on," said Merton Spring of Aurora, a retired teacher and World War
II veteran who still remembers precisely where he was when he heard about
the attack on Pearl Harbor. "This week, we were seeing it happen, as it
happened," he said 

Civilians, not military 

Certainly, Pearl Harbor and the World Trade Center attacks have similarities.
They were bold, surprise attacks on a somewhat complacent society that were
acts of war as much as anything else. The numbers of dead in this week's
attack — at last estimate up to 4,700 — are almost double the number who
died at Pearl Harbor. Still, 2,400 dead at Pearl Harbor was a staggering, tragic
toll.

   Both events shocked the country, but almost immediately filled Americans
with a rage and resolve that the country will be avenged.

   The differences are many, also. For one thing, Pearl Harbor was the official
beginning of America's entry into World War II. We have yet to see where
Tuesday's events will lead.

   On Dec. 8, 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt declared war on Japan, the obvious
aggressor at Pearl Harbor. America still is trying to find out exactly who the
aggressor is in Tuesday's attack, so there is no clear response yet.

   The Pearl Harbor attack killed mostly military personnel. It struck at a time
much of the world was already was involved in or girding for war, and it
occurred on a remote Pacific island that wasn't even a state yet.

   Tuesday's attacks, by contrast, hit twin power centers of the nation, killing
mostly civilians and making Americans everywhere wonder if they might not
be next in the path of violence.

   "This is worse than Pearl Harbor ever was because that was our job, to be
put in harm's way," said Bob Montgomery, 72, of Danville, Ill., who was an
airman during World War II.

   Spring said he was listening to the radio when he heard the announcement.

   "That can't compare to seeing it on TV, while it happened," he said. "This
week was much more poignant." 

"Nuclear war threat?"

 For baby boomers born after World War II, this week was perhaps more
reminiscent of the John F. Kennedy assassination.

  It might be hard to understand similarities between the death of one man
compared to the mass murder of thousands, but consider the mood
immediately following both events.

  Each had an aspect of the "it-can't-happen-here" complacency that gives a
false sense of security. A common statement about the Kennedy assassination
is that America lost its innocence that day.

  Whatever was left might have been lost Tuesday.

  Also, at the time of the assassination, Americans felt vulnerable and unsure
of the future. In the immediate aftermath, people feared the shooting might be
just the start of a foreign invasion, a coup or a revolution. The same feeling of
uncertainty pervades America right now.

  With the Kennedy assassination, the country came to a standstill, unable to
concentrate on much of anything but shock and mourning. The same can be
said right now.

  "But this is worse," said Kris Keef, of Montgomery, who was in grade
school when JFK was shot in Dallas. "I was just a little girl then. I just
remember thinking, 'Oh, well, we need a new president now.' "

  Jayla Irons of St. Charles is about the same age. She said this week is
"incomparable" to anything else. From New York originally, Irons spent
Tuesday trying to find out if her family was safe.

  "This was such an attack on freedom," she said. "To me, it's beyond
anything."

  On Tuesday, many baby boomers looked at their own children and, in trying
to figure out what was going through their heads, remembered their feelings at
the time of Kennedy's assassination.

  "Absolutely, this will be the touchstone for our kids, like Kennedy was for
us," said Joe McElroy of Naperville, who was 10 when JFK was shot.

  Still, at that younger age, he was not nearly as devastated by the
assassination as he was at age 15 when Robert Kennedy was killed. Yet, he
likened his feelings of vulnerability this week to the 1968 assassination of Dr.
Martin Luther King.

  "When Dr. King was murdered, I remember seeing buildings on fire, the
ensuing riots," he said. "I was scared."

  How age affects emotions was illustrated this week by the reaction of two
boys almost three years apart in age. The 10-year-old was upset because a ball
game was canceled, and put his fist through the air, proclaiming, "Stupid
terrorists!"

  The 13-year-old quietly asked his father, "Will this cause a nuclear war?" 

"Body count" 

  On Tuesday, Marla Parus of St. Charles took both her children out of school.
Not only did she want them with her during this time of national crisis, she
also feared something worse might happen later in the day, and she would beat
a crowd of swarming parents trying to get their children.

  She drew a distinction between an event that is remembered and a
life-changing event. While she clearly remembers the assassinations of the
1960s, none of those altered her life the way Watergate did, which unfolded
over years.

  "That changed me entirely," she said. "I became jaded, I didn't the trust the
government, I became apolitical. That changed me more than any other one
thing."

  At age 29, Eric Schwartz of Aurora does not remember Pearl Harbor nor
Kennedy's death. He remembers where he was when the Challenger exploded,
when President Ronald Reagan was shot and when the Gulf War started. Is
this week more life-changing than those?

  "I don't know yet," he said. "We're right in the middle of it, but this probably
will be the defining moment, yes."

  Justin Trapani, 27, of Elgin, said the major global events he remembers most
vividly were America's bombing of Libya and the invasion of Grenada, both in
the 1980s. The bombing of Libya was retaliation for a terrorist action.

  He said there is no comparison between this week and those events.

  "With those, there was a military goal," he said. "This was just out and out
looking for a body count." 

Contact Steve Lord at (630) 844-5926 or at slord@scn1.com 

               09/16/01