In a message dated 10/10/01 2:10:26 PM, Mezzoid@a... writes:
<< Maybe it's because Leno isn't in NYC
and was probably still sleeping when the attacks happened >>
Could be...there's nothing like watching that sort of thing unfold and
realizing that friends might be in the building...or that you yourself could
easily have been there, too. We were in the process of pitching one of the
WTC's largest tenants, and could easily have been in their offices that day.
Luckily the project was not a high priority! And one of Charlie's golfing
buddies should have been there that day, but was at an offsite conference. We
didn't know where he was, and it was incredibly sickening to watch those
buildings come down, hoping and praying that the people you know aren't in
them--and that somehow a miracle will save those that are.
Charlie and I had actually spent Labor Day weekend in NYC, in lower
Manhattan. It was spectacular. We stayed at the SoHo Grand, shopped, took in
some theatre and then went down to Battery Park to catch the ferry to the
Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Although we both grew up in the NY area,
I had been to neither and Charlie had only visited the statue as a grade
schooler.
We found the experience extraordinarily moving. On Ellis Island, where my
maternal grandfather's name is on the wall, the emotional impact is
incredible. We spent quite a long time at the telescopes, looking at the
Manhattan skyline. There was a photographer setting up for a sunset
shot--probably one of the last professional photos of the intact NY skyline.
We had dinner at a little restaurant in Battery Park, seated outdoors. We
watched the sunset over the NY harbor and Lady Liberty. Both of us remarked
more than once about the extraordinary privilege of citizens of this country.
A week later it was changed forever.
However, I am struck continually by the fact that most Americans have
responded to these events with extraordinary courage and dignity.
While the terrorists were sending out a message of hatred, hundreds, then th
ousands and millions--maybe even billions--of mesages of love and
understanding and support have circled the globe many times over. Starting
with phone calls and emails from some of the victims, who knew that they were
doomed, but calmly called to say "I love you. Have a good life." And the
passengers who struggled with the hijackers over Pennsylvania. The firemen
and policemen who actually went into those doomed buildings. People who
stayed to help total strangers. The rescue workers who have been risking
their health and well being at the site--and may continue for up to year.
And now young men and women of our military trying to root out terrorism in
what may be the most desolate, god-forsaken landscape on earth. God help
them, and the innocent Afghani people!
This is the "evil land" that bin Laden and his ilk hate and seek to destroy.
They even have their own "Hitler Youth" program, indoctrinating tiny children
in hatred of the US and Israel. I've come to believe that the lowest place in
hell is reserved for people who corrupt the hearts and minds of others with
hatred. Get ready, Osama, because that's where you're going--soon!
Judy
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