Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Monday, January 28, 2002 11:29 AM Comments regarding Victim Compensation Fund To whom it may concern: I am an American who did not lose any loved ones from the September 11 tragedies. I am also a taxpayer. After having read several dozen of the comments regarding the compensation fund, I clearly feel a strong sense of sorrow and pity for the families who did lose someone they loved. However, I feel the clamoring of these families for more money from the government is misguided and the argument regarding compensation should not be shrouded in a rhetoric of patriotism and duty. We need to return to reality. We should recognize that tragedy is part of life. By December 11th, 3 months after the tragedy, more people had died on America's roads than died in the terrorist attacks. These deaths were almost entirely accidental, and they were no less tragic than those lost on September 11th. Granted, the deaths of these many thousands of people in their cars were not the result of an attack on our country, but these people are no less dead, and they will be no less missed than those we lost on the 11th. These people were, like many of those who died on the 11th, on the job or on their way to work. These victims loved their country no less than those who died on the 11th; they are different only with regard to the size of the tragedy that claimed their lives. Countless other Americans have died from other causes since September 11th as well... many of these people taken during the prime of their lives, with families to support and and with children and parents who loved them. But my tax dollars are not going directly to support the thousands who have died in accidents since the 11th, and I don't think they should. This juxtaposition leads me to my point: as members of an advanced society, as parents of children and spouses of husbands and wives, every person who has someone dependant on them has a responsibility to have life insurance. People have a duty to prepare for tragedy, and it should not be the governments burden to bear the responsibility of people who have neglected to prepare for something as commonplace as death. There are no excuses for not having life insurance when you have a family to support. Term life insurance is not expensive for most people, averaging just a few dollars a month for sizable coverage. Before people buy cable television, or splurge on a cup of Starbucks everyday, they should purchase life insurance for their families, or if possible, whole life insurance. People should prepare for tragedy by having insurance for the unlikely, but very possible, chance that they will die from an accident. This responsibility is no less applicable to those who died in the September 11th attacks than to those who died in accidents since that day. I know someone who lost a loved one might read this comment and think me insensitive and cruel, but I simply ask them to look to all those other Americans who have died from other causes and realize that in those cases, the government is not stepping in with a $1.6 million tax-free payment paid for with the generosity of the taxpayers. I know that many recipients will have their benefits decreased by insurance payments, but this should not be seen as unfair, but rather as the decedent's fulfillment of his or her responsibility to his or her dependents. To those who respond that fund recipients must waive their right to sue, whereas those who lose their loved ones in more common accidents do not, please realize that the average wrongful-death suit in this country is less that $1.6 million. Your benefits under this compensation fund are probably more than you would receive if your loved one died in a car accident, even if the other driver was a terrorist. I personally have donated a sizable portion of my income to September 11th charities because I felt the pain of those who died, so please do not confuse my comments with disdain. I only ask that you do not belittle the generosity of the American taxpayer by clamoring that $1.6 million is insufficient compensation considering everyone's responsibility to prepare for accidental death and the reality that most wrongful-death victims receive far less than what the taxpayers are giving you now. Individual Comment Washington, D.C. September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-28 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojP000229.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-01-28