Let’s never forget | The Press

During the commemorations of the 21e anniversary of September 11, 2001 at Ground Zero in New York on Sunday, September 11, 2022, the New York Times interviewed people who had lost someone in the tragedy 21 years ago.

Posted at 11:00 a.m.

Arthur McCaffrey

Arthur McCaffrey
Retired Psychologist, Harvard University

Here are the thoughts of the sister of a victim reported by the Times : Anthoula Katsimatides, 50, actress and administrator of the Memorial and Museum of September 11, lost her brother John Katsimatides, 31, bond broker at Cantor Fitzgerald. “The more time passes, the easier it is for people to forget or put the thing on the back burner,” she said. Mme Katsimatides said the aim of the annual commemoration was “to teach younger generations” to avoid a similar tragedy in the future. “They need to know, they need to be educated,” said Mme Katsimatides. “And then it will be up to them to take the torch and pass it on. »

I want to borrow M’s comment.me Katsimatides and use it to frame a virtual memorial for all those children who experienced a personal 9/11 when their childhood was taken from them by an abuser, an exploiter, a soul killer. In particular, I want to remember the orphans of Quebec, called Orphelins de Duplessis, who were abused in provincial institutions decades ago and never had a memorial for their suffering and loss. They even suffered further ignominy when forgotten and ignored during Pope Francis’ recent historic penitential pilgrimage to console Indigenous victims of abuse in Canada.

I therefore implore the citizens of Canada and their media to never forget, to always use a tragedy such as child abuse as a teaching moment for the next generation.

For it is our solemn duty to pass on to the next generation our grief, our compassion and our “never again” resolve (as Pope Francis said in Quebec City on July 28), lest we forget.

As M.me Katsimatides, people forget after a while, but we need to keep that memory alive — not to be morbid or melancholic, but to bear witness to our humanity and our common heritage. A similar message came to us from another recently deceased person: in 2001, Queen Elizabeth II sent words of comfort and support for our national bereavement, reminding us that “grief is the price to pay for love “.

So let’s lift this torch of love, keep it lit in memory and pass it on so that the fate of orphans in Quebec and all other abused children in Canada and around the world will never be forgotten. As the Quebec license plates proclaim: “I remember”.


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