On Sept. 11, 2001, we recall exactly where we were. One of us was in a second-grade classroom, confused why school was dismissed early. The other was a newly minted trauma surgeon who had just dropped off his son to kindergarten on his first day of school. As the chaotic day unfolded, hospitals along the East Coast waited for patients from New York City who never came. For the past 25 years, we have paused to remember the 2,977 lives lost when the twin towers fell. The nation is still healing.
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However, a far greater threat than any terrorist attack or foreign enemy continues to haunt Americans daily: firearms. Every year, roughly 48,000 Americans die by firearm — more than half by suicide and more than 40% by homicide. Sept. 11, 2001, would have to recur every three weeks a year to match the toll of deaths annually by firearm. How are we commemorating those lives?
We honor the bravery of first responders on that horrific day. Yet every day, law enforcement officers brave the reality that, while they are on duty, firearms are their leading cause of death.
While it is not productive to rank tragedies, a toll this constant, this preventable and this ignored demands scrutiny. For a decade, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly have pushed for a resolution to make June Gun Violence Awareness Month to commemorate the lives lost and beckon a nation to change.
Solutions exist. In Illinois, a proposed bill, called the Responsibility in Firearm Legislation Act, would create financial accountability for manufacturers whose products contribute the most to firearm injury. Community violence intervention organizations, thanks to investments, provide resources to the most at-risk individuals and communities. At the federal level, attempts have been made to repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which shields firearm makers and dealers from civil liability.
Yet progress is being unwound. Right after President Donald Trump took office, his administration shuttered the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. It has since cut the budget of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives by more than a quarter, diverted many ATF agents to immigration enforcement, scrapped the “zero tolerance” policy for dealers who break federal law and eliminated the tax that once restricted access to suppressors and short-barreled weapons.
We hope commemorating the lives affected on 9/11 can also lead to sustainable changes where we only remember the victims of daily gun violence and not add to the scroll.
— Dr. Anthony Douglas, public health practitioner, and Dr. Selwyn Rogers Jr., chief of trauma and acute care surgery, University of Chicago Medical Center
Look for the helpers
Twenty-five years ago, my wife and I had similar reactions as others to the news coming in regarding a plane crashing into a tower in New York. Listening to the radio, we heard the bulletin. Thought probably a small plane. We kept reading. More, and then more. Maybe we should turn on the TV.
We spent the day vividly watching the tragedy. We still have strong memories of the towers going down and all that followed. The strongest and most heartfelt memory is from watching footage of people leave the tower area as fast as they could to get away from the danger and a column of firefighters marching toward the danger. A lump in my throat. They’re marching into danger with one thought: They’re going there to help those in trouble.
Thank God for people like that. Some in that column likely didn’t make it back.
Coincidently, a short while after 9/11, we were downtown, and a fire truck went by on a call. I’ve seen hundreds of fire trucks and police cars go by on calls, but this time, it felt different. I thought of the guys on 9/11 marching toward danger. Got that lump in my throat again.
Police and firefighters today, just like that day, don’t know all they’re going to face. They go because they’re needed. They want to help.
Again, thank God for people like that.
— Bill Burns, South Elgin
Our students need us
About 2 in 5 Chicago public school students are missing 18-plus days of school each year, a number that should cause any Chicagoan to stop in their tracks.
When students are not attending school, they are not just missing out on instruction. They are missing out on resources and relationships vital to their development.
Students experience plenty of challenges disrupting their attendance, from community violence to a youth mental health crisis. But since chronic absenteeism surged after the pandemic, it has been an issue that our students have not been able to shake.
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For some young people, the barrier is transportation to school or clothes and hygiene supplies that help them get ready. For others, it’s mental health issues or emotional difficulties that make coming to school a challenge. For some, it’s a lack of community and family engagement.
And it takes someone who is willing to build a relationship with that young person and connect them with resources and support they need. That’s why positive relationships are a powerful, proven solution to chronic absenteeism.
It could look like:
A sixth grader experiencing crippling anxiety outside of school and a caring adult meeting her there, walking her through those doors until she can walk in alone. A once-motivated junior missing classes after a family loss and a supportive professional helping her access the self-care and grief resources she needs to get back on track. An eighth grader feeling discouraged after spring break, who becomes excited about attending because an airline pilot is presenting at his school.
As we look to this school year, how can we change that 2-in-5 statistic? How can we make sure that more students come to the school, ready to learn?
More adults, everyday Chicagoans, can build those powerful, one-on-one relationships with young people. Here’s how:
Understand that every young person is unique, and so are the challenges they are facing. Reducing chronic absenteeism has to be tailored approach, driven by relationships.
Learn about your community’s needs. Connect with schools and community organizations and see how you can support existing efforts.
Get engaged. Whether it’s mentoring, volunteering, financially supporting an organization or building relationships with youth, your actions, big and small, build a young person’s sense of connection and belonging. It leads to more learning, more students graduating and a better, stronger Chicago for all of us.
— Jane Mentzinger, CEO, Communities In Schools of Chicago
Explain law; don’t insinuate
Regarding “Illinois’ right-to-die law meets the right to say no” (Sept. 11): Rather than make dark insinuations about what might happen in the future, the Tribune Editorial Board would do a better public service by pointing out the essential elements of Deb’s Law, Illinois’ new medical-aid-in-dying law.
Nobody qualifies just because of age or disability. Full stop. You must be terminally ill and reasonably likely to die of your underlying illness or illnesses in the next six months, in the considered judgment of two physicians. You must be adult and mentally capable — in other words, you know what you are doing and are making an informed choice. And — the ultimate protection against coercion or abuse — you must take the needed medication yourself. Medical aid in dying is something you do yourself. It is not something that is done to you.
We all hope for a long and healthy life and a peaceful death when our time comes. Sometimes, however, the dying process can be hell, and it can be a very rational decision as the end approaches to say: That’s it, I’ve had enough, I just want my suffering to be over.
It’s a personal choice — indeed, the most personal of choices.
I’m a conservative, and I believe in limited government, individual freedom, individual rights and individual responsibility. I’m proud of our new Illinois law, and I believe it’s fully consistent with our best tradition of freedom.
— Edward Gogol, Crystal Lake
Interference by religion
Regarding religious opposition to Illinois’ medical aid in dying law: “I can’t do this because my religion forbids it” is freedom of religion. “You can’t do this because my religion forbids it” is authoritarianism.
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— Colin C. Campbell, Geneva
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email [email protected].