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The Springfield News-Sun has spoken several time with the Titus family and retired U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Deborah Loewer since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, changed both of their lives.
The terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, shattered thousands of lives and left lasting scars that have continued to haunt some residents in Clark and Champaign counties for 15 years.
For John and Beverly Titus, it meant the loss of a daughter and more than a decade spent trying to create a culture of peace in her memory.
For retired U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Deborah Loewer, a former director of the White House Situation Room, it meant friends who died in the Pentagon and lasting memories working with top U.S. leaders as they tried to craft a response in the immediate aftermath of the attacks.
Despite their different perspectives, each said they took important lessons that still live with them today.
Fifteen years after Alicia Titus died in New York City, her parents have hope that her memory has spurred a broad discussion on how Americans want the future to look for their children and grandchildren.
Alicia Titus was a flight attendant on United Airlines Flight 175 when it crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
Since their daughter’s death, the Champaign County couple have struggled to cope with their loss while working to promote programs that advocate peace in her memory. They created the Alicia Titus Memorial Peace Fund in Champaign County in 2002 to keep her memory alive.
They’ve mostly seen chaos in the years since their daughter’s death. Terror attacks have spread in Europe, wars in Afghanistan and the Middle East are ongoing, and they said political rhetoric has increasingly focused on isolating the U.S. from world affairs.
But they see hope in younger generations, although it may be decades before they see the change they want.
In the meantime, the couple said they’re still learning to cope with the loss of their daughter.
“You learn how to ride on the waves,” John Titus said of the grief they’ve felt. “Those tsunami-like waves don’t hit you as often as you process the grief. But you still get hit with an errant wave once in a while. We know that that’s going to happen and we just expect it and deal with it when it happens.”
More significant than Pearl Harbor
Loewer had a first-hand look at perhaps the worst moment in American history in 2001. A Shawnee High School and Wright State University graduate, she was with then-President George W. Bush and his staff when American Airlines Flight 11 slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
Loewer was in a motorcade with Bush and other staffers heading toward Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Florida when her senior duty officer called and told her the first aircraft had struck the World Trade Center. When the motorcade stopped, she rushed to brief then-White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, as well as President Bush.
But few details, including information about the plane, the pilot and weather conditions, were available at the time. At first, Loewer said she and others hoped it was a tragic accident.
Just minutes later, Loewer was in a communications room that had been set up in the school and watched on television as the second plane, United Airlines Flight 175, crashed into the South Tower.
“It was immediately apparent to me at that time that this was an attack on our country,” Loewer said.
Loewer lost friends who died when another plane smashed in to the Pentagon. But she said nothing she experienced compares with the loss those like the Titus family suffered that day.
“I did lose a lot of friends that day, but I didn’t lose family members,” Loewer said. “My heart goes out to that family and to the families of the 3,000 who died.”
Loewer clearly remembers many of the conversations taking place in the White House in the hours and days after the attack. Everyone knew the decisions made early on would affect the country for years to come, she said.
“A lot of the discussions that I was privy to had to deal with, ‘We need to understand the consequences of what we do,’” she said.
Loewer argued the ripple effect it has had since then made the terrorist attack perhaps the most significant attack on the U.S. in history.. She acknowledged historians will likely debate the issue for years to come.
“Having been a witness to history, and knowing all of the things we did that day and the following days, the global significance of things that happened in 2001, I think eclipsed the events of Pearl Harbor,” Loewer said.
A plea for peace
Beverly and John Titus spent months reflecting on the loss of their daughter. They quickly became disheartened that much of the rhetoric they heard in the media and from politicians was overly simplistic and never scratched below the surface of what the attack meant or why it happened.
The Tituses spent much of the past 15 years praying, reading and meeting with others affected by the event.
The couple concluded that the events that day were part of a complex web of economic, political and historic influences that stretch back for decades. And they wanted to find a way to honor their daughter, a part-time poet and writer who loved to travel.
They started the Alicia Titus Memorial Peace Fund in 2002 in Champaign County to sponsor programs that promote and support a culture of peace. The couple also joined the September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, a group of families affected by the tragedy that promotes peace and justice issues nationally.
Since 2002, the family’s peace fund has grown and developed events like a day of service, in which Urbana students and community volunteers donate time to improving their community. The program has also sponsored scholarships for Urbana University students and promoted nonviolence programs in local elementary schools.
It also developed numerous events designed to encourage students and community members to think more closely about alternatives to war and violence.
“That was important to keep her legacy and her spirit alive through her peace fund,” Beverly Titus said.
Fifteen years after the attacks, it’s sometimes been hard to see their work bear fruit, John Titus said. Conflicts overseas have continued for more than a decade, and mass shootings have occurred in places like Orlando, Fla., and San Bernadino, Calif.
Often it seems the country is further now from the peaceful world they envision than it was 15 years ago, John Titus said.
“What’s going on now seems like more chaos and less sense of direction,” he said.
But they have hope that future generations will want something different. Beverly Titus described them as activists for peace.
“We understand that big changes aren’t probably going to happen in our lifetime, but we’re doing this for the rest of our children, our grandchildren and their children,” Beverly Titus said. “That’s how long it takes to make change.”
Changes in communication
One of the biggest changes Loewer has seen in the 15 years since she briefed President Bush on the attack is the rapid pace of change in communication and social media. At the time, cell phones were less common and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter were years in the future.
Loewer remembers briefing the president on the limited amount of information that was immediately available even to top White House staff at the time. And that day, she took care to note that initial reports are often inaccurate.
“It provides the opportunity to misinterpret and rapidly pass along information, and the misinterpretation of that information could establish a course of action that is incorrect,” Loewer said of various information platforms now available. “I worry about that today when incidents occur that the volume of information goes out and then it spreads so rapidly you can’t get it back in the box.”
The U.S. has become better-prepared to prevent a similar, well-organized attack from a terrorist organization on U.S. soil due to improved intelligence and other policies enacted since Sept. 11, 2001, Loewer said.
But she also argued the social media has also made it easier for terrorist organizations to influence individuals who are inclined to cause harm.
“Much credit can be given to social media and the darknet for the proliferation of various philosophies and hate influencing small groups and lone wolf actors,” Loewer said.
Isolation
Despite their different experiences 15 years ago, both Loewer and the Titus family cautioned against what they see as a growing movement pushing for the U.S. to become more isolated from world affairs.
For Loewer, the United States’ position as an economic and political power gives the country a unique opportunity to make the world a safer, more equitable place. The U.S. can best influence world affairs by abiding commitments to its allies, she said.
That doesn’t only apply in terms of the military, she said, but also economic and diplomatic agreements. She acknowledged many people are weary of conflicts that have stretched on for years, and said there’s a natural tendency to withdraw.
But she said there’s a greater concern.
“We’re the greatest power on Earth right now,” Loewer said. “Whether we’ll continue to be the greatest power, the answer is left to the future. Unless the United States continues to be engaged globally, we will by our in-actions let go of our position of power in the world. When it comes to international events, the guy with the power has the ability to be more influential than the guy who doesn’t have the power.”
For John and Beverly Titus, they also found a need to engage with others on a more personal level. It wasn’t until they became active in their efforts to promote the peace fund that they were able to deal with their grief.
“For John and I, after Alicia was killed, we could barely move and sometimes didn’t care to breathe,” Beverly Titus said. “If it hadn’t been for our family and friends and the love from our community and around the world we wouldn’t be here. It can be a very devastating journey but it’s the love and support we’ve had from everybody that lifted us.”
They hope their peace fund offers hope to others as well.
“It’s our hope by providing these kinds of programs, it will lift people up in our community and inspire them to go out and do something to lift someone else up,” she said.
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