8 years ago, from the moment of this post, the lives of the people of the United States of America, as well as the world, were changed forever.

I don’t need to tell you about that day, or what happened. I don’t need to share with you the emotions that were stirred by the tragedy, or how those emotions changed the course of a country. For everyone, whether you lived it in your lives, knew someone who did, or just watched it from afar, you know it affected you. You still remember where you were, and what you were doing, the day the towers fell.

Knowing all of this, and feeling all of this, I have a deep philosophical question that I would like to pose. It was inspired by a story I recently read on Advertising Age. And I’m posting this knowing it is likely to cause some serious emotional upset…this is one of the hardest discussions this website has ever endeavored to start. If this stirs memories that are hard for you, one of our cherished True Believers, I sincerely apologize. However, I believe that this is a discussion great importance for us all to consider.

It seems that DDB Brazil, that country’s wing of a worldwide advertising firm, found itself in some serious hot water recently. A small local Brazillian paper ran an ad for the World Wildlife Fund called “Tsunami.” It was an ad that created a tremendous amount of anger throughout the people of the internet. That ad was a single image from a shocking scene. That scene has been reproduced below in video form, using similar text to the print ad featured in Brazil. (Full disclosure: Neither DDB Brazil nor WWF claim to have approved the video below – both state the origin to the video to be unknown) The images are chilling for everyone who’s lives were affected by the 9/11 attacks. If you are sensitive to such content, please scroll down below for a summery. However, if you think you can stomach it, the message in the ad is just as visceral:

The ad reenacts the events of that fateful September day, step by step. First, the north tower, then the south tower, are struck by planes. The screen fades black, with a line of copy reading “In 2001, one of the worst tragedy in the history of humanity killed 2,819 people.” The video fades up to a scene of the two towers burning, and suddenly we are assaulted with the vision of countless planes filling the screen, all headed towards NYC. The screen fades again, and the copy reads “In 2005, the tsunami killed 280,000 people. That’s 100 times more deaths. Our planet is brutally powerful. Respect it. Conserve it.” The final frame is a white background with the WWF’s trademark panda.

The images are…disturbing. Whenever I watch the film, I’m filled with chills, and remembrance of the shock I felt as I told my fellow college students the news as they filtered back from classes. They replay the images that I’ve seen in my memories so many times…it’s clear why they didn’t post the ad, or play this video in the US. The public outcry would have been outrageous.

However…the video is factually correct. It demonstrates in a terrifying, visually shocking way just how serious the events on December 26, 2004 were. While we discuss how deeply scarred we have been by the attacks 8 years ago, the Indian Ocean tsunami was many magnitudes worse. The message is clear, concise, and strikes a deep chord in anyone who can get through the video long enough to consider its meaning. It’s a video that doesn’t leave you easily…and it’s effect on your thought processes are likely exactly what the people who created the ad intended.

Which is where my question arises. The anger about this ad comes, in part, from the images of the September 11 attacks being used (and some would say, abused) to create a vivid emotional response. But, as a people, we have been shying away from these images, and the deeper meanings that can be drawn from them. There are lessons about personal loss, and national loss, and the loss felt by a species. Hidden in those events, there are lessons about fellowship. Family. Friendship.
And even peace.
There are even lessons we cannot see unless we really try…lessons like the one taught by this video.

I will never deny that the events of that day forever changed us all. And I will never deny that the people who lived it, or whose lives were forever changed because they never saw a loved one, a friend, a business partner, or a neighbor ever again, may never fully heal from the wounds that day left. But, as a society, when is it okay for us to move forward? We will refuse to forget…but when will it be okay to see images like this? Will it ever be okay?

I don’t expect an answer. But I do look forward to your thoughts, feelings, impressions and beliefs in discussion of this very appropriate question. I think that such discussion is the best way that we, Geeks With Issues, may honor the memory of those who died eight years ago today. Consider it…a remembrance through ideas.