America UNITES
9-11-01

The following are various messages of hope and strength that I have received since Tuesday's tragedy.  I've tried to attribute them to their rightful authors, but with so many similar sentiments circulating on the internet, please accept my apologies now if there is a mistaken attribution.  I will gladly make corrections if the correct information is emailed to me.  Thank you.  

***

This, from a Canadian newspaper, is worth sharing.
America: The Good Neighbor.

 Widespread but only partial news coverage was given recently to a remarkable editorial broadcast from Toronto by Gordon Sinclair, a Canadian television commentator. What follows is the full text of his trenchant remarks as printed in the Congressional Record:

 "This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most
generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the earth.
Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of
the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and
forgave other billions in debts. None of these countries is today paying
even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.

When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who
propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it. When earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the
 United States that hurries in to help. This spring, 59 American communities were flattened by tornadoes.  Nobody helped.

 The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars! into
discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing about
the decadent, warmongering Americans.  I'd like to see just one of those countries that
 is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplane. Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC10?   If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all the
 International lines except Russia fly American Planes?
 Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman on the
moon? 
You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios. You talk
about German technocracy, and you get automobiles.

 You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon -! not
once, but several times - and safely home again.

 You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the store
window for everybody to look at. Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded.
 They are here on our streets, and most of them, unless they are breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home to spend here.
 When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through
age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an  old caboose. Both are still broke. I can name you 5000 times when the Americans raced  to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.
 Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who is damned tired
of hearing them get kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles. I hope Canada is not one of those."

Stand proud, America!
 

* * * back to top* * *

* * * back to top* * *

A Prayer for All of Us:

Dear Heavenly Father,
We are moved by the alarming news and crisis that our country is
facing.  This, the greatest nation, founded in the belief that "In God We
Trust" & the "Land of the Free".   Please have mercy on those suffering,
hurting and in fear, and give wisdom & strength to those who are assisting.
May the forces of evil be broken by your power and may we be humble before
thee, our strength and refuge.
Give wisdom to our President & all our leaders and bring your
comforting peace through the power of your Holy Spirit.  Help us here to reach to 
those that have been affected by this tragedy.
 In the name of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus.  AMEN

* * * back to top* * *

Article by Leonard Pitts Jr. of the Miami Herald

We'll go forward from this moment.

It's my job to have something to say.  They pay me to provide words that
help make sense of that which troubles the American soul.  But in this
moment of airless shock when hot tears sting disbelieving eyes, the only
thing I can find to say, the only words that seem to fit, must be
addressed to the unknown author of this suffering.

You monster.  You beast.  You unspeakable bastard.  What lesson did you
hope to teach us by your coward's attack on our World Trade Center, our
Pentagon, us?  What was it you hoped we would learn?  Whatever it was,
please know that you failed.

Did you want us to respect your cause?  You just damned your cause.

Did you want to make us fear?  You just steeled our resolve.

Did you want to tear us apart?  You just brought us together.

Let me tell you about my people.  We are a vast and quarrelsome family, a family rent by racial, social, political and class division, but a family nonetheless.  We're frivolous, yes, capable of expending tremendous emotional energy on pop cultural minutiae - - a singer's revealing dress, a ball team's misfortune, a cartoon mouse.  

We're wealthy, too, spoiled by the ready availability of trinkets and material goods, and maybe because of that, we walk through life with a certain sense of blithe entitlement.  We are fundamentally decent, though - - peace-loving and compassionate.  We
struggle to know the right thing and to do it.  And we are, the overwhelming majority of us, people of faith, believers in a just and loving God.

Some people - - you, perhaps - - think that any or all of this makes us weak. You're mistaken.  We are not weak.  Indeed, we are strong in ways that cannot be measured by arsenals.

IN PAIN
Yes, we're in pain now. We are in mourning and we are in shock.  We're still grappling with the unreality of the awful thing you did, still working to make ourselves understand that this isn't a special effect from some Hollywood blockbuster, isn't the plot  development from a Tom Clancy novel.

Both in terms of the awful scope of their ambition and the probable
final death toll, your attacks are likely to go down as the worst acts
of terrorism in the history of the United States and, probably, the
history of the world. You've bloodied us as we have never been bloodied
before.  But there's a gulf of difference between making us bloody and
making us fall.  This is the lesson Japan was taught to its bitter
sorrow the last time anyone hit us this hard, the last time anyone brought us such abrupt and monumental pain. When roused, we are righteous in our outrage, terrible in our
force.  When provoked by this level of barbarism, we will bear any suffering, pay any cost, go to any length, in the pursuit of justice.

I tell you this without fear of contradiction.  I know my people, as
you, I think, do not.  What I know reassures me.  It also causes me to
tremble with dread of the future.  In the days to come, there will be
recrimination and accusation, fingers pointing to determine whose
failure allowed this to happen and what can be done to prevent it from
happening again.  There will be heightened security, misguided talk of
revoking basic freedoms.  We'll go forward from this moment sobered,
chastened, sad. But determined, too.
Unimaginably determined.

THE STEEL IN US
You see, the steel in us is not always readily apparent.  That aspect of our character is seldom understood by people who don't know us well.  On this day, the family's bickering is put on hold. As Americans we will weep, as Americans we will mourn, and as Americans, we will rise in defense of all that we cherish.

So I ask again:  What was it you hoped to teach us?  It occurs to me that  maybe you just wanted us to know the depths of your hatred.  If that's the case, consider the message received.  And take this message in exchange:
You don't know my people.  You don't know what we're capable of.  You don't know
what you just started.  But you're about to learn.

 

* * * back to top* * *

 

From emails from my friends...

Dear friends and family,

 

I am forwarding this message with additions from others who have expressed their sorrow, tears, and pain as well as astonishment and prayers about yesterday's shocking and heartbreaking day.  They are expressions and prayers which may help all of us cope.

 

Dear family & friends,
I received this email from my sister and felt it said so much about how I
feel I decided to pass it on. Along with a prayer that I also received. God
Bless each of you!  

     . . . a sad day.  When I woke up this morning to the news of the terrible circumstances which were unfolding in New York and elsewhere, I thought, what a sick joke.  But after a few minutes I realized it wasn't a joke. Terrorism on a national scale was actually happening in our wonderful United States.  
    Like others I was close to a TV or radio all day so that I could keep reinforcing; it's true, it's really happening, "they" finally have played out the ultimate revenge on a country that seemed impenetrable, invincible.   Everything else in our lives seems small doesn't it; compared to what happened on this September 11, 2001. Remember where you were when you first heard what was happening.  Remember what you were thinking as the horror unfolded.  Remember what we have heard about Pearl Harbor and what our grandparents, parents and other relatives were thinking and doing when that piece of history was playing out. Then, they knew who the enemy was and could strike out at the Japanese for what they had done.  Now, we can't see the enemy but we hope our government will find out who was responsible and take appropriate definite action.  
    World War II brought this country together; our parents are a product of that . . . maybe this will be the cause that brings this country together again.
    I'm angry, sorrowful, willing to help, and helpless.  I feel like I can only go about my hectic work and keep an eye on what is happening out there . . . and pray to God that some solution will be found.  Why am I writing this?
Because it's my way of crying for the losses our country experienced today.  
Innocent people -- who worked at the World Trade Center, The Pentagon, on the airplanes used as weapons to destroy thousands.  I keep thinking about the pilots, attendants and passengers on those planes who couldn't believe it was happening, experienced it with the same disbelief that all of us feel after it happened.  

Dear Heavenly Father:
    We are moved by the alarming news and crisis that our country is facing. This, the greatest nation, founded in the belief that "In God We Trust" & the "Land of the Free." Please have mercy on those suffering, hurting and in fear, and give wisdom & strength to those who are assisting. May the forces of evil be broken by your power and may we humble before thee, our strength and refuge. Give wisdom to all our President & our leaders and bring your comforting peace through the power of your Holy Spirit. Help us here to reach to those that have been affected by this tragedy. In the name of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus. AMEN

Dear Lord,

It is time for the people of the WORLD to join in one voice and ask you ease the pain of all the victims and their families.  To forgive those that have torn apart our beautiful cities and the lives of so many.  Give them new wisdom, new direction.  We as Americans are a strong people and will overcome this tragidy but the hate lives on in the hearts of so many.  I pray you can lighten the hearts and bring us back to a time that was more innocent and loving. 

I pray to you and trust to you the fate of our world.........

 

Where do I begin a letter like this? It is hard to believe that I will get up at 4:00 in the morning open my  textbook and begin studying for the day. It is hard to believe that I will go to my classes and take notes on any given subject. After seeing the horrors that have unfolded in New York and Washington DC, it is hard to believe that i will ever do anything normal the same way again.

 

As I listened to the stories unfold and viewed the deaths of so many, I thought about my daughters and my nieces and nephews. What could they possibly be thinking about something of this magnitude. Are they even capable of absorbing such a trajedy and worse yet should they have to. I guess they live in the times where they do have to, as we do.

 

It will not be easy to find sleep tonight. My prayers are for those who have lost their loved ones and for those who have lost their way to the extent that they are willing to kill innocent people. Heavenly Father loves all of us and wants us to do the right thing. Now is the hardest time for us. Anger won't work now, let's help clean up what has been torn asunder and then we will take care of those that have gone astray.

 

To my children and family I say remember this day, let your children and their children remember it that it may never happen again.

 

I love you all very much and just needed to vent this a little bit. I have pounded the table and cried out in anger. I have cried tears of sorrow yet couldn't find the peace that I sought. maybe this will help me a little bit.

 

* * * back to top* * *

 

This page last modified on: Sunday, September 16, 2001 02:06 PM