I spent the first two
weeks after the attack on the World Trade Center, doing a lot of crying.
Part of the reason for my tears was because I needed to openly grieve my
husband's death. Part of the reason was that I have been filled with a
sense of pride in my nation and it's enlightened response to the attack.
The caution and the caring concern for the innocents, caught in the line
of fire, expressed by our government and our president in particular have
given me great hope and respect for those decision-makers. Today,
I have to say that I am proud to be an American.
Some still feel that our nation's leaders
are inept and that our people are still steeped in racism and discrimination.
I must agree that our Intelligence Organizations seemed to drop the ball
on this one, and that our government failed to enact guidelines for airport
security that may have prevented it. Nevertheless, I see a marked improvement
in the way that they handled the situation, after the fact. I also realize
that there is still a great deal of racism and social and religious discrimination
in our country, but a vast number of people in this country have shown
their compassion, their tolerance and acceptance in these last two weeks,
and I am deeply moved by this.
I was saddened that some individuals
were moved to attack individuals, U.S. citizens, because of the color of
their skin and the way they dress, and that airlines succumbed to "racial
profiling" in an effort to increase their sense of security. Still, our
government did not round up all those of Middle Eastern decent and detain
them in camps, as they did the American born Japanese after the bombing
of Pearl Harbor. I was impressed with the Presidents urging that we use
caution before judging others just because they look like the enemy. We
have learned so much in the last 50 years!
I watched all the specials and
news events on TV and was very impressed with the interviews of psychologists
in conjunction with the terror and sadness that was sweeping the nation.
One such interview stick out in my mind. I don't know the name of the psychologist,
but I do know that he is a prominent grief counselor. The most important
thing that he said, during those first few dark days was: "Please avoid
telling your friends, neighbors and children not to be afraid, or not to
cry. It is imperative that we allow one another to feel our feelings. You
can't "fix" feelings, you can only share them. It is in the sharing of
