We are dedicating this
page to the friends and families of those killed or injured during the cowardly
attack on an innocent American civilian population on 9/11/01; also to the
rescue workers and volunteers who have given so much of themselves to help
during this tragedy - some have given all.
This is circulating through email now. I have one
suggestion - if you are going to send a card or letter - make it count - enclose
a check to help support the rescue effort.
**************************
On the news, they are saying that the firemen are getting discouraged
because they have not found anyone is more than a week. They leave
out the part about the horrific conditions and sights they see, But
through it all, they go on and on and on and on.
So here is my idea. Let's start a Card Writing Campaign. Go out to
your local Hallmark or where ever it is you buy your greeting cards.
Buy a card that reflects what your feelings are about their
heroic efforts and send it to them at:
NYC Fire Department
1 Chase Manhattan Plaza
New York, NY 10005
Just think how powerful this message can be. If all of you send
this e-mail to everyone you know, and they send it to everyone they
know and if all of the people who get this note send a card, we can
be the start of a miracle. Kind of like when the Post Office
delivers all the mail addressed to Santa to Kris Kringle in Miracle
on 34th Street.
Lets start our own miracle. Lets show these brave men how we feel
about them. They need our love, support and encouragement.
A Hero's Tears
In Oklahoma City, I met one of New York's finest. I wonder if he's still alive.
BY JOHN MALLON
Monday, October 1, 2001 12:01 a.m. EDT
OKLAHOMA CITY--On April 19, 2000, I accompanied a friend to the dedication of the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. She had lost her 23-year-old daughter in the bombing, and by then, the fifth anniversary, we were heavy-hearted but dry-eyed having attended so many similar events.
The memorial features, among other things, a plain but stylized empty chair representing each of the 168 souls who died in the bombing. After the speeches and ceremonies, family members' names were called out to be escorted to their loved ones' chairs by full dress-uniformed rescue workers from all over America who had participated in the search and rescue/recovery effort alongside the Oklahoma crews five years before.
With great dignity and appropriate formality these men and women led the individual families down the stairs to the field of empty chairs. At the bottom of the stairs, my friend paused to greet another victim's relative. While waiting, I noticed that our escort's shoulder patch read "New York City Police Emergency Services."
I also noticed his eyes were red and that he had been struggling to hold back tears. So I thought for a moment, and said to him, "You're from New York City?" He nodded, barely able to speak.
I raised my finger and shook it at him for emphasis, and said: "You go back and tell your fellow officers in the New York City Police Department that they are doing a great job! I've been up to New York several times on business recently, and I never felt unsafe anytime of the day or night. You tell them I said that, that they are doing a great job."
I was very insistent, because at the time the NYPD was coming under heavy criticism, even in the national media. I don't think he said anything, but he bit his lip even harder and nodded as I scolded him. I failed to get his name, but I was so glad I said that to him that day. I seemed to have a need to. I am even more glad now that I spoke those words, as I wonder if he is alive . . . or not.
Standing with this representative of New York's finest that day at the reflecting pool, there was a different kind of solemnity than five years before. It was serene, contemplative. Five years before it was full of tears. It was a terrible, gritty, dusty, bruised, bloody solemnity full of grief and death with hope dying of finding anyone alive in the jagged rubble. I was glad he could stand in the serenity of a sunny spring day with the site clean and green with landscaping and memories starting to heal. I hate to think of him facing it all again.
Oklahomans know firsthand that ground zero is much worse in person than on television. And on some level I'm sure many Oklahomans, amid all the other rapid-fire feelings seeing the towers crumble, were groaning somewhere inside, as I was: Not again.
I hope to God this noble man survived, but I wouldn't be surprised if he rushed into the World Trade Center, without a thought for himself, and gave his life in the line of duty.
The depth of his sorrow that day in Oklahoma, five years after the bombing, told me that he was the kind of man who would do that. A hero. God bless the heroes of Oklahoma, who are now heroes of New York--the heroes of America.
Tired of Geek Speak when
you have Computer Questions?
Do you have PayPal yet? You Should.
Disclaimer:
Copyright notice - No infringement of any text or graphic copyright is intended. If you own the copyright to any original image or document used for the creation of the graphics or information on this site, please contact the Webmaster with all pertinent info so that proper credit can be given. If you wish to have it removed from the site, it will be replaced ASAP.
