“A Passion of Grief and Fear Exasperates Us”: Death, Bereavement, and Mourning— What We Have Learned a Year after 9/11

What struck us all is that the events of 9/11 are unprecedented. We understood that the attack had deep political significance, but we did not, and do not, understand what that significance is. What we are experiencing is a passion of political grief and fear. It is of course easy enough to identify with Nyakyusa reactions, particularly their first reactions. People appeared dumbfounded by their loss, "stumbling about as though blind with grief", and muttering incoherently. It is this transition that Nyakyusa explained to Wilson in the phrase that now seems so eerily relevant: "a passion of grief and fear exasperates us". It captures neatly the mood of the nation in the immediate wake of 9/11. Consequently, we all set about looking for precedents. The even more popular analogy to Pearl Harbor had the additional rhetorical advantage of suggesting a proper reaction: a vast national mobilization against the enemy.