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September 11 2001

© Eva Holmes

I can't begin to write an article about Italian Genealogy this week, when we are so worried about our relatives and friends who worked in the World Trade Center or the Pentagon, or who were traveling on this day.

A friend of mine, Jason Etheridge, flew an American Airlines plane from Boston to LA several weeks ago. While on the plane, he wrote a haiku which has become strikingly appropriate this week. I imagine most of the victims of this terrible terrorist attack prayed and hoped their families would receive this sort of message:

With airplane crashing I have no time to explain But I love you all

Another friend of mine has reminded us of Pompeii in an article hosted on his website. Pompeii, as you know, was the Roman city destroyed by the eruption of a volcano in 79 A.D. Today the city is noteworthy not only because of its tragic end, but because the horror has been preserved- by the gray ashes, much like what covers Manhattan.

The comparison of Pompeii with this American tragedy seems slight. As William Harris points out, the WTC held far more people than Pompeii ever did. And what happened to Pompeii was not on purpose.

Here is a link to the article by William Harris which includes a first-hand account of the destruction of Pompeii as told by Pliny: http://www.middlebury.edu/~harris/catast...

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