Mr. FEINBERG: I'd say half the families would explain to me how this reinforced their belief in God. The other half came to me and in various ways articulated the view that they would never set foot in a church again, that there is no God. No deity could ever allow some horror like this to happen.

ABERNETHY: And what were the effects of the fact that the remains of 1,100 of the victims were never identified?

Mr. FEINBERG: I was stunned by this. The single greatest source of grief among the surviving families occurred in situations where the family came to me sobbing that there was no body. There were not remains to be buried.

ABERNETHY: Over the nearly three years it took to decide who was eligible for awards and how much each family would receive, the biggest problem became fairness. For instance, the young widow of a stockbroker -- because of how much her husband might have earned had he lived -- received far more than the widow of a firefighter or policeman. And even among families in the same circumstances, there could be differences.

Mr. FEINBERG: It was very divisive. One fireman's widow would say, "I'm getting $825,000, and my next door neighbor, a widow of a fireman, is getting $1.2 million. You're denigrating the memory of my husband. Why?" I'd try and explain that under the statute, I was required to deduct from an award life insurance, pension, 401(k)s, but it didn't sit well with victims.

ABERNETHY: If there should ever be another massive terrorist attack, Feinberg now thinks Congress should not re-create a 9/11-type compensation program.

Mr. FEINBERG: I think a better way would be simply to give every eligible claimant a flat, same amount and not ask one person to play Solomon and try to figure out different amounts for different victims -- to avoid divisiveness among the very people you are trying to help. People may be not at all to blame for life's tragedies, but I don't think that part of the American heritage is that when a person is a victim, through no fault of her own, that limited government somehow should step in and provide that person $2 million, tax-free. I mean, where does it stop? If the government suddenly becomes an insurer, why limit it to 9/11? What about Oklahoma City? And why stop with terrorism? The victim of a hit-and-run accident, the fireman's widow -- why aren't all of those people entitled to public compensation?

ABERNETHY: How did that whole process -- over 33 months, you've said -- how did that change you, your attitudes, your priorities?

Mr. FEINBERG: You become much more empathetic to the downtrodden, the victims of an unforeseen misfortune. I'm a much better listener; I'm much more fatalistic. I must say, one thing I learned about 9/11, when these families came to see me: be careful about planning too far in the future. Life has a way of throwing curve balls at everybody, and I don't think I'll plan much beyond two weeks going forward, because you never know.

ABERNETHY: Feinberg says after the experience of playing Solomon he decided to practice law less and teach more, now at no fewer than five law schools.