This Sunday, 50,000 people are expected to attend
a memorial service for the victims of the bushfires in Victoria, Australia. Thousands more will be watching the National Day of Mourning on television and across other sites.
Victorian Premier John Brumby stated that the service ". . . is a wonderful way to show our mourning, to show our grief, to show our respect but also to express our thanks, our heartfelt thanks to all of those who've done so much to help rebuild in these communities."
In 2003, HFA focused its annual teleconference on Coping with Public Tragedy. Here is an excerpt of one chapter, "What Makes a Tragedy Public" by Kenneth J. Doka, from the companion book,
Living with Grief: Coping with Public Tragedy.
One of the clichés of public tragedy is that life will never be the same after one. For some individuals, life does not change; they resume the basic rhythms of their lives as the immediacy of the tragedy recedes. But for others, life really does change. Those immediately affected must cope with their losses and grief. For them, basic assumptions of life may be shattered. The world no longer seems benign. This may lead to a sense of anxiety and fear. Individuals may also experience a spiritual crisis. They may feel that their lives now have no purpose or goals, or that their constructs-the ways they view the world -are bankrupt, that their spirituality is threatened. For many survivors, tragedy leaves a terrible imprint. On a larger scale, some tragedies can fracture a community, creating conflict and division. This, too, can contribute to an individual's sense of loss (Eriksen, 1976). Yet for others, this may lead to attempts to reconstruct a sense of order, to rebuild shattered assumptions. Sometimes these attempts themselves are illusionary. In an earlier book, Jack Gordon and I (2000) described the phenomenon of "resonating trauma," in which people focus their generalized anxiety on a specific "expected" event. For example, following 9/11, rumors abounded that there would be a major attack on a shopping mall on October 31. When these attacks failed to materialize, persons could once again feel safe.
Other attempts to reconstruct may be far more resilient. In the aftermath of a tragedy, some persons may experience considerable growth. They may have a changed sense of self-seeing themselves now as stronger. They may reprioritize relationships, developing and enhancing ties with others. Individuals may experience a sense of existential and spiritual growth (Calhoun & Tedeschi, 2001). They may find new purposes, goals, and meanings, develop more resilient constructs, and even find secondary gains in their experience of loss such as new skills or insights that mitigate grief (Davis & Nlen-Hocksima, 2001).
Collectively, too, public tragedy can strengthen even as it injures. There may be a new collective unity and sense of purpose. In time, tragedies may lead to collective actions that create new policies and change the social order. The horror of the Triangle Shirt Factory fire not only shocked a nation but also created support for legislation to improve occupational safety.
Grief, collective or individual, can generate growth. This process takes time, however, and that is why hospices, community mental health centers, and funeral grief programs are so critical. They remain in the community long after disaster relief agencies have left, donations have ceased, and public attention has turned to a new tragedy.
