For Whom the Bell Tolls

Most of us have memories tied to the sound of a bell. School bells. Church bells. Doorbells. Each one signals a moment we recognize.

But bells can also mark something more profound — a life lost.

That is the bell English poet John Donne wrote about nearly 400 years ago in Meditation XVII:

“Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

Donne was writing about our connection to one another. When a bell tolls for someone else, he wrote, we should recognize that their loss touches all of us.

On September 11, 2001, the bell tolled for thousands of people.

Twenty-five years later, we are still listening.

A Day We Remember
We remember where we were when we heard the news.

We remember the images of the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon and the field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. We remember the smoke, the fear and the heartbreaking realization that thousands of people would not be going home that night.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the attacks.

Every year, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum commemorates their lives with the reading of their names and six moments of silence. The silences mark the moments when the towers were struck and fell, the attack on the Pentagon and the crash of Flight 93.

But this year, there were seven.

And that seventh toll tells us something important about September 11.

The Toll That Continued
The seventh moment of silence honors those who died in the years after September 11 from illnesses linked to their exposure at Ground Zero. It is a reminder that the toll of that day unfolded over time.

After the towers fell, hundreds of thousands of people answered the call to rescue, recover and help rebuild. At Ground Zero, they worked through nearly two million tons of rubble, surrounded by dust and debris whose dangers were not fully understood.

For some, the consequences came years later.

A diagnosis. A battle with illness. A loss.

The bell kept tolling long after the towers fell.

The day ended. The toll did not.

Still, the Bell Tolls
Twenty-five years later, the bell still tolls.

It tolls for the person who went to work that morning and never came home.

It tolls for the firefighter who climbed the stairs while others were trying to escape.

It tolls for the passengers and crew of Flight 93 who fought to take back control of their plane.

It tolls for the families who lost parents, children, spouses, brothers and sisters.

And now, the seventh toll rings for those who survived that terrible day but later lost their lives to illnesses connected to their exposure at Ground Zero.

It tolls for the first responder who became sick.

For the recovery worker who developed cancer.

For the survivor whose health was permanently changed.

Twenty-five years.

One enduring reminder:

For whom does the bell toll?

It tolls for them. And it tolls for all of us.

Happy reading,
Suzanne Daniels, Ph.D.