Robert Torricelli: “nearly 2 months have passed since the events of September 11. The tragedy and its ramifications have been part of the…”

“nearly 2 months have passed since the events of September 11. The tragedy and its ramifications have been part of the life of every American family in the weeks that have followed. Even American schoolchildren can recount not only the images but recite the numbers of the dead, the cost, and the consequences. In my State there are hundreds of people who did not come home on that night. The changes experienced by average Americans cannot obviously be compared with the families themselves--wives and husbands, children, brothers and sisters who are rebuilding shattered lives. They wake up every day reminding themselves of the new reality that will follow them throughout their lives. Recently, Senator Corzine and I met with a number of the widows and widowers. You can only imagine, if this entire Nation has found it difficult to accept the reality of these circumstances, what it is like for a young mother still recoiling from the experience of informing her children, or a father, now left to raise children alone. The pain of September 11 is measured on many scales. It has changed the finances of this Government. It has forever impacted our national sense of safety. But for these few thousand families, it has changed lives in ways we could never hope to understand. There is little in terms of the things that matter that any of us can do to generally offer comfort or consolation.”