I would not want to be the federal administrator responsible for the distribution of 9/11 monies to the victims of the disaster, especially to the rescuers who are now afflicted with a variety of illnesses that have not been easy to connect to the environmental conditions at the World Trade Center.
There is bound to be a lot of emotion and vitriolic rhetoric that will surround this issue over the next few months. Diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease can be notoriously difficult to be tied to an environmental situation.
With so many people affected by the incident, the money that was allocated may be stretched thin; this makes the battle for compensation a real challenge. I’m hoping that the governing agency has or will develop a complete set of criteria to measure each claim’s worth.
On the other hand, there’s no amount of money that will compensate for those who have been suffering the effects of 9/11 since that day. Personally, I only know of a few folks who were on the ground, but all of them have experienced some type of physical ailment since then.
A couple have had long term, debilitating signs; one at least had to retire very early because he is no longer able to work due to a pulmonary ailment. When called upon to serve our national community, all of these folks went to work willingly and faithfully. I pray that we will be able to provide some modicum of comfort in the months and years ahead.
