tp66.xml

tp66.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-02-28

3,000 miles away from Ground Zero, I sat in the eerie silence that accompanied grounded airplanes. As my own foundation of trust came crumbling down, I questioned the morality of human beings.

When I received an e-mail response from my friend, Maureen, my bitterness and grief grew. Yes, she replied, her husband, Simon, worked for Cantor Fitzgerald. Yes, he was at work when the first plane hit. Yes, he was among the "missing."

I could no longer control my pessimism. I lay awake at night, sure that a
backfiring car was a bomb that had just blown up the cafe across the street.

I was afraid to drive across the Golden Gate Bridge for fear that terrorists
were lurking in the fog. I glared at my neighbors who spoke in foreign tongues.

When I finally reached Maureen, she had just put the last of her 3 young
children to bed. Her voice had the nasal congestion sound that comes with too much crying.

"You wouldnt believe it," Maureen said between sniffles. "The kindness of people is overwhelming. Theres a lady that I always see walking her dog past my house. Shes left a basket filled with food every single day for the last week. My co-workers went downtown and plastered pictures of Simon all over the place. They had a vigil on my street for the kids and me. People are sending me money from everywhere."

I was amazed. Who would have thought that Maureen would be the one to lift my spirits? But in the depths of her own Ground Zero, Maureen had recognized something Id too quickly forgotten: in spite of everything, there is incredible kindness in the world.