N001332
Friday, January 04, 2002 5:40 AM
Comments
It is highly disturbing to know that as Survivors of the 09/11/01 World Trade Center Attack, financial assistance is given to survivors of the victims, and to survivors who have sustained physical injuries and is not given to us. I write on behalf of all these individuals who have survived the WTC attack without any physical injuries, but whose lives have not been the same since that tragic day.
Do survivors have to sustain physical injuries to be compensated? Is our Federal Government not taking into account the emotional and psychological injuries that survivors have sustained and will have to live with for the rest of their lives. As a nation, we have all suffered, but the ones who continue to suffer are the ones who survived the attacks on the United States of America, those who were in both One and Two WTC, and those in the Pentagon; these are the ones who live each day in fear of the unknown.
I am not attempting to lessen the pain and grief experienced by families, due to the loss of loved ones, and also thousands of lives that day; the point I am making is that thousands more who survived the attacks relive this event in some way each day. Are these individuals not entitled to restitution for our Federal Government? Do we have to be scarred, wounded, or pronounced dead to be restituted?
The airline industry has been promised, and have received billions of dollars which will bail them out of Chapter 11, instead of this occurring, why did they not take the initial steps to put safety first. They are the ones whose product and service was used against us; but, it is o'kay to pour billions of dollars into that industry to "keep it afloat". It seems our priorities are not in order. It seems that the loss of lives, the massive amounts of physical injuries, and the countless survivors who continue to experience emotional and psychological trauma is less important.
All victims and survivors should be compensated by our Federal Government. There should not be any discrimination in who should be restituted and who should not. Monetary compensation is the lest form of restitution for such a horrific act. Think about the thousands of survivors who find it difficult to exist from day to day due to the ghastly and horrible images implanted in their minds. Think about the thousands who barely escaped with their lives before both buildings crumbled. Think about the thousands who walked down 100, 90, 80, 70, 60, and 50 flights of stairs to get to safety. Does this not call for some form of restitution.
There are stories of many of my workers, and countless others, including myself, who barely escaped with out lives. Think about the people walking along the stairways or in the elevators, in both one and two WTC who when both planes hit the building at different intervals, witnessed their fellow co-workers or a stranger instantly killed by such brutal force, but they were spared, however, they must live with this image in their minds. Think of the ones who barely escaped with their lives out of one and two WTC, and in their attempt to look back, saw people jumping from top floors. These are images implanted in our minds, which will be there until death.
Our politicians can sit back and make decisions as to who should be compensated and who should not, it is much easier for them to depersonalize themselves from the events that occurred on 9/11/01; it is not easy for us to do so. Thus, the Federal Government should reevaluate the September 11th Victims Compensation Fund of 2001 and restitute all survivors who were present in both one and two WTC buildings and at the Pentagon on 09/11/2001.
Sincerely,
Individual Comment
Survivor Two WTC 9/11/01 Attack