story1526.xml

story1526.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-08-28

That day I was talking to a friend in Canada on the phone and suddenly he said: "I hate to be the one to tell you, but turn on your TV, and see what's happening right now!" I did, and I saw the first tower of the World Trade Center after it was hit, then footage of its being hit. Soon the second tower was hit by another plane, and it, too, began its devastating mushrooming, with its fireball, and then its collapse.

At first you can't believe something like that. It's like some horror movie that we've all become too acustomed to. We even talked about another tragedy in our lives, and for a while we stared in disbelief as we talked. When we hung up in finally hit me, as I know it did him. The horror, the loss, the devastation. And that looming question: Who would want to do this?

Now that we know more about who did do it, we are left with the continuing question of what to do in response. I cannot always agree with the President's approach to what we should do.

However, I want to stress in the strongest terms that there are two seperate issues here: [1] How we feel about the horrible devastation of September 11, and the other [2] What should be done in response to it.

I would like whoever reads this to know that I consider myself just as hurt and outraged by what was done to Americans on September 11, and that I am just as patriotic in my response to it, rallying around our flag and the country which it symbolizes.

However, on the issue of what our response should be, I beg all of us to consider at every juncture whether our rage or vindictiveness, our desire for revenge, may lead us to take action which will further alienate our brothers in other lands, such as our Arab neighbors in the Middle East, and whether the inevitable loss of further human life justifies further war in Iraq or elsewhere.