This Day

I am having such a hard time finding words tonight. From the first moment when I saw the hints in my mailbox that something was wrong to watching end of the day footage on Fox, I’ve been numb. Jennifer and I have been trying to make sense of all of this, and I can only imagine what must be going through the minds of the families of the victims and those who were there to witness the devastation. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to be aboard one of those planes in the last moments. I can’t imagine what it must be like to be trapped underneath the rubble of one of the collapsed buildings, not knowing whether you’ll be rescued, not even knowing what has really happened.

I’ve never had sympathy for terrorists. I’ve had sympathy for their causes, for the innocents harmed by the stupid political games that nations play (I honestly believe that politics have killed more people than any other natural disaster), but terrorists have always struck me as one of the lower forms of life, lower even than Congressional bureaucrats. What point can possibly be worth killing more people than have died in any peace-time man-made activity?

We’re going to be coming to grips with this for a long time. We may never know exactly how many people died in this mindless attack. We may never know why one jet crashed in Pennsylvania instead of reaching its true target. We may never even know who’s responsible for this amazingly well-coordinated attack. Government officials are pointing the blame at Osama Bin Laden, but there’s no real evidence of his involvement right now. No one has claimed responsibility, and I find that more frightening than anything else for some reason.

I know that my own shock and horror are miniscule. I’m still alive and I know no one who was killed or even injured in the blasts. I can only hope and pray that those who have lost loved ones will find comfort, that we as a nation can find the strength to heal, and that we can all avoid allowing our own anger and hatred to overwhelm us and spread the horror even further with racist attacks on Arab Americans or worse.

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