September 14, 2001
IU School of Medicine Pauses to Reflect, Mourn and Unify
INDIANAPOLIS - Some looked upward as the commercial jet airliner climbed slowly into a cloudless blue canopy spreading above the Hoosier landscape. A medical student with closed eyes whispered a prayer while a scientist read from the Book of Lamentations.
An Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis student wearing an American flag t-shirt dabbed at his eyes and in an emotional voice proclaimed that the events of Sept. 11, 2001, have galvanized the United States into a nation of "250 million New Yorkers." The haunting yet hopeful words of "America, the Beautiful" and "Star-Spangled Banner" were sung in hushed tones.
An estimated 600 people gathered Sept. 14 in front of the IU School of Medicine's VanNuys Medical Science Building on the IUPUI campus to mourn and memorialize the tragedies in New York City and Washington, D.C.
"Today, we're feeling a range of emotions, from impotence to anger to grief because of what has happened, but today we come together as a nation," said IU School of Medicine Dean Craig Brater, M.D. "We are here today - this extended family of ours - and know that we have solidarity in purpose."
Dr. Brater was among faculty, staff and students who addressed the crowd gathered on the sun-splashed plaza for the noon service. Herb Cushing, M.D., acting associate dean of for Medical Student Academic Affairs, said the best legacy our nation could attain is to move forward toward a more perfect world. "I want to believe the slain would want us to do this."
For first-year medical student Ahmed Athar, the events that unfolded Sept. 11 have left him feeling a mixed bag of emotions, and that he was alarmed by television news accounts of some in Arab nations cheering the attacks. "Please know that I would like to change the perception that terrorist acts are not part of the Islamic faith - my faith - nor do they represent any other true religious faith. We stand together," Athar added, "all being different and all being the same."
Those same sentiments were echoed by Emad Rahmani, M.D., assistant professor of medicine. Reading from a letter from the Council on Islamic-American Relations, he emphasized the outrage Muslims continually have expressed at terrorist acts not only in the United States but throughout the world.
"This is America!" he said, alluding to reports of growing anti-Arab violence committed against citizen and visiting Muslims in the United States.
Indeed, America's unity is strengthened only by its willingness to not only tolerate but also embrace the diversity of its people and many cultures, noted Meredith Hull, M.D., assistant dean of IUSM's House Staff Affairs.
Fear certainly has been in large supply in recent days. For IUPUI sophomore Angie Green, her dreams of one day living and working in New York City are not as certain. "But I have hope when I see the way people are reaching out to one another in these terrible times," she said. "Everywhere I look I see how much love there really is in this country. We will learn to laugh again."
Healing will not occur overnight, said Suzanne Kunkle, Ph.D., director of Student and Resident Counseling at the IU School of Medicine. Dr. Kunkle's office has offered sessions to all at the school who are trying to cope emotionally with the terrorist acts that has claimed an estimated 5,000 lives. "We're always there for you and especially more so in the days ahead," she said.
With American flags fluttering at half-staff across the IUPUI campus, Diane Southard, Ph.D., a scientist in the school's Infectious Diseases Division, stepped forward and asked the gathering to join her in singing "America, the Beautiful" beneath the cloudless, spacious skies.
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Media Contact: Joe Stuteville
Tel: (317)274-7722
Email: jstutevi@iupui.edu
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