David K. Lewis, Ph.D.

Dear Connecticut College Students:

The tragic attacks of this week have been likened to the 1941 sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. I do not have personal memories of the bombing of Pearl Harbor as I wasn't alive then, but my parents remembered it clearly throughout their lives. And well they should. They were being married in Vermont on December 7, 1941 just as the first squadrons of enemy bombers arrived over Pearl Harbor and dropped their bombs and torpedoes on United States battleships. Communications were slower then, and my parents did not learn of the attack until they arrived in New York that evening to begin their honeymoon. There, they were greeted by newspaper headlines and radio reports of the disaster - the loss of some 2,000 lives and the core of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. At the time, what made the greatest impact were the frequent air-raid drills and evacuations of their hotel, and the persistent rumors that German troops had invaded Long Island. Only over time did the true meaning of the event sink in as they began to see the widespread uprooting and destruction of families that resulted.

I have my own particularly vivid memories of another tragedy, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, when I was a college student like you. From the moment I heard that Kennedy had been shot, I remember every detail of the day, including the often-shown television segment of a dazed and despondent Walter Cronkite reporting to the nation that its president had just been declared dead, and Lyndon B. Johnson standing beside a still blood-spattered Jacqueline Kennedy, reciting the oath of office as the new president. For days I went around stunned, hyper-alert but in a fog. I did not know what to feel, or how to react. I criticized an instructor for keeping open the language lab that day and expecting me to complete the day's assignment, then felt guilty for being so hostile. In the days after Kennedy's death, I came to appreciate the support and continuing frame of reference provided by classes and other regular activities as the college continued its teaching and learning and other activity while responding in additional ways to the tragedy. I recognized the full implications of the loss only some years later, as it seemed the fabric of society came unstitched for a time.

Each of those tragedies was a watershed event, a demarcation in time beyond which many persons, especially the young adult generation, found their lives and their perspectives changed. Unlike natural disasters, those tragedies were conceived and carried out by human beings, humans who committed unimaginably violent acts on other humans.

As I have made my way about the campus since Tuesday morning, I have seen a wide range of responses to the wanton destruction and loss of life. Some students are weeping for friends and loved ones who are missing, some are taking action through vigils and teach-ins, and some are going calmly about their lives appearing, at least from the outside, to be not very much affected by the recent events. It has been speculated that the outward calm and acceptance of this week's events shown by some people may be the result of their frequent watching of simulated disasters on TV and in movies -- the terrifying video clips shown on TV of the second hijacked airliner crashing into a World Trade Center tower and exploding in an immense fireball, and of the subsequent collapse of the towers, may have looked a lot like simulated tragedies. However, I think that many persons may be experiencing the sort of quiet shock I experienced with the Kennedy assassination - knowing a tragedy has occurred, but not yet knowing really what to think or how to react.

However great the loss of life and property in Tuesday's attacks, and it is huge, a greater impact may be felt by most students in the weeks, months and years ahead. Surely there will be jittery nerves among security personnel, restrictions on the ease and convenience of travel, and significant economic impacts. Will these restrictions affect just the perceived quality of life, or also civil liberties and personal freedoms and programs here at Connecticut College? And what about international affairs? How will our government and other governments around the world respond? There are these and many, many other important questions crying for answers in the wake of this week's tragedy.

Tragedies of this week's scale transcend geographical, racial and religious boundaries, and in their aftermath they can bring diverse communities together to achieve greater understanding. I am thankful that we are a caring intellectual community and that we will help each other build upon the specific vivid images of shocking events and develop together that greater understanding of their longer-term significance we all seek.

My concerns and prayers go out to all members of the Connecticut College community, and especially to those who may have lost a family member or friend to Tuesday's tragedy.

Sincerely,

David K. Lewis
Margaret W. Kelly Professor and Interim President