"WHAT'S GOING ON IN NEW YORK AND WASHINGTON ?"
-- Hello my Dear Friends,Now I have a moment to share:
As you know living on the continent of America, we can be knocked down, but you better watch out when we get up!!
This act of terrorism has only unleashed a sleep giant!!!
This act of terrorism is shocking to be sure!! Sad and frightening as we had no idea where or when it would end! September 11, 2001 will live in infamy! ( See the date: 911 which is the emergency number here in the United States.)
Obviously terrorists got one up on us, not unlike many other countries!!
The good news, if there can be any in a situation like this, is that we in the USA have the resources to pick up again and to implement ways to deter this from happening again. I do think we will be able to thwart another attack of this magnitude. Smaller terrorist attacks might occur, but nothing of this magnitude!!
The government has already determined who made the attack, and though it saddens me to think of any retaliation as in striking back on the whole country, that may be done. I ask for prayer for those who did this! So many innocent people have been killed here, but to kill other innocent people in retaliation for this attack doesn't seem like the most effective way to find a resolution to this situation....I can pray and that's what I will do!
Dr. Reich, the ONLY laparoscopic surgeon in the United States who can deal effectively with adhesions and usually is in Manhattan was in Pennsylvania at that time. I didn't know that until yesterday morning and I did have a concern about him yesterday as he practices only two blocks from the WTC! Some other friends of mine, Brigette and Reinier had just flown out of Germany for a vacation in Florida!! So I knew they were in the air somewhere when New York got hit! I found out this morning they were rerouted to Portugal, and will fly to Paris today and then back to Germany!! I have no word on our other friends in New York and Washington D.C. as of yet.
It was surreal yesterday. It was easy to assume that the first plane to hit the World Trade Center was an accident, or possibly a suicide, but when the World Trade Center's second tower took that direct hit from the second plane I knew it was terrorism! When Washington was also hit, I knew it was a well orchestrated one, and then the State Dept got hit with a car bombing and it was obvious it was very, VERY well orchestrated acts of terrorism!! Of course I deal alot in New York, so I had concerns. I also deal in D.C. and Pennsylvania allot....and THEN Pennsylvania got hit!!
By that time I really couldn't think, sort of foggy, unbelievable. I mean no-one said a word here, we were all in shock at what we were seeing and hearing live on TV. First they said a plane hit the WTC and as we watched that coverage the second plane came in and hit the other tower....live on TV! Next you watched people jumping out of the buildings 80 and 90 stories to their death. Following that was a news break, "The Pentagon was hit by a plane", then the car bombing at the State Dept., and only minutes passed and another plane went down in Pennsylvania!
Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse the first tower of the WTC started to fall, that's when we all screamed in disbelief as it was live on the TV!! The billowing smoke spread out over Manhattan with people screaming and running, debris flying everywhere, and then the dust settled and people started to get up off the ground covered with gray soot and things were quiet once again. We all just stared at the TV screen and within moments the second tower leaned and dropped and again we knew the death toll had once again risen to enormous heights! All we could do was stand staring at the TV with our hands over our mouths stifling screams of sheer terror!! My body was shaking inside and I got sick to my stomach!
Things settled down then, although we were holding our breath waiting for the next act of terrorism, and after an hour the country seemed to settle into concentrating on attending to the injured and dead.
Everyone began talking about what had just occurred, and although everyone was feeling vulnerable to being attacked again, we also knew the President had the country's air space monitored pretty well. We also knew smaller acts of terrorism could take place as well throughout the country, but we were braced for that by this time.
Churches all over the country went into special prayer sessions as they continue to do today. Schools brought in counselors for the students and any parents who wanted that as well. TV stations are running counseling sessions today live on most TV channels as well.
Me?......Well a coke and brandy last night offered me a good night sleep and I am feeling pretty well today! Bernie, my husband, went to his meeting last night but had to come home early since the gas prices started to rise where I live and we had to fill our cars before it hit sky high prices!! My family is fine, though none of us will ever FEEL the same! We will deal with it, but this has forever been etched in our minds and hearts!! Our son is a paramedic firefighter so the death of the firefighters in New York cuts deep within our hearts!!
We count our blessings today, although we have no word as of yet as to the number of causalities or names of the people who lost their lives. Even if they are people we know we will mourn the loss, recognize them as heroes and thank God they are with him!!
Life went on as usual around here today except for lots and lots of TV coverage as it should be. Most of my work has been halted until D.C. and N.Y. reopen, but until then I will simply work in the areas that I can when it comes to International Adhesion Society and Pathways of Hope issues. Wisconsin is pretty far away from the east coast and I would not expect anything to happen around here. The United States is a BIG country and no one is that organized to be able to destroy a country of this size.....and with people possessing attitudes as big as the country!! LOL!!
Though our hearts are heavy with the loss of lives we know that everything can and will be rebuilt. We know that measures will be taken to avoid any further attacks of this magnitude and most of us feel pretty safe. Even with the tragedies this week 99% of the country was safe and we knew that. IF these terrorists had been able to cause damage to Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans and Minnesota, then we would have had cause to be concerned for our safety. That didn't happen, therefore telling us that these terrorists did not have the capability to cause strikes in a lot of places at one time!! I never felt threatened at all yesterday. Violated as an American citizen?......Yes! To see this happen to our country was certainly a violation of all of us here, however I knew I was safe here in Wisconsin.
Again, thank-you for your compassion and concern! Hearing from other countries offers us a wonderful feeling of the family we have massed throughout the world, and we are united as a family in our hearts against those who commit these cowardly acts!
Again, thank-you for thinking of us here in the United States! The Ukraine is not without it's suffering, yet you reached out to us in our time of need, what a wonderful thing to do! May God Bless you and Canada!!
In peace and friendship, BEV