Invisible Injuries: Remembering March 11

By Mikki Baloy, LDRNY Coordinator

Flags flew at half-staff, candles burned at makeshift memorials, and bereaved family and friends prepared for funerals.  Strangers were suddenly neighbors, crying together for common fears and common losses.  Government officials debated the adequacy of security measures and the international community expressed outrage and sadness as recovery workers sifted through rubble. 

New Yorkers knew this scene too well.  So did the residents of Madrid.

Candles burn at a memorial for victims.                                  Photo by Tony Gale

Terrorism is psychological warfare that creates two classes of casualties: those killed, and those who survive. The commuter train bombings that killed 191 people a year ago have been remembered as Spain’s 9/11.  Despite the difference in scale, there are parallels: the political debates, investigations, and talk of terrorism kept both events in the news for months.  But beyond the news reports lies another devastating connection.  The human toll of terrorism, the trauma it inflicts, is as insidious as it is heartbreaking.   Those who walk away from disaster are often wounded deeply and tragically, but their injuries are invisible.

Even after the cameras stop rolling and the debris is cleared, the affects of terrorism are never truly eradicated.  Only now are we beginning to understand them.  Memories of bloodshed and violence haunt survivors for the rest of their lives, and those who have lost loved ones may not ever find peace with their loss.  Very often, trauma follows a person throughout their life, influencing relationships with family.  This kind of generational trauma can manifest in many different ways, including addictions and psychological disorders, even in victims’ children.  Incidences of chemical dependency, risk-taking behaviors and domestic violence, including child abuse, are too common among survivors of disaster in any country.

All dimensions of life, including the spiritual and vocational, are affected when a human-caused disaster befalls a community.  Current thinking is that to be safe requires only physical security, but this is a dangerous fallacy.  In fact, long-term mental health care must be a component of all disaster preparedness and response efforts.  The very purpose of terrorist attacks is to damage the collective psyche of a community and to rupture the sense of normalcy.  The community under attack must not only say they are out of harm’s way, but must believe in resiliency and strength and be willing to talk openly about it.  Only then will true security be restored. 

As we remember this week the attacks in Madrid, let us raise up all victims of terrorism, from Beslan to Bali, the Middle East to Northern Ireland, and from Oklahoma City to New York City.  Let us pray for their continued comfort and healing, for dialogue between nations and within communities, and for a true and lasting peace.