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Lorraine Mutschler: All of us are touched by the tragedy
Wednesday, September 19, 2001
Like everyone else in the country, I have been glued to the television since 9 a.m. the Day of Terror. I feel like I've overflowed my point of saturation with all the coverage on TV, but I am afraid not to watch, afraid I will miss some breaking news. I keep discovering things on one network I missed on another.
Our son Paul was supposed to fly into Pittsburgh from Phoenix Thursday night with a friend to attend the first Steelers league game at Heinz Field on Sunday with my husband. We found out Thursday morning the game was canceled and he wouldn't be coming. He was nervous about flying anyway.
Even if the NFL had played, I don't know why anyone of sound mind who didn't have to be on a plane would want to be. Especially a son of mine. He probably heard my sigh of relief in Arizona.
I received several calls and e-mails calming our fears about our son-in-law's sister who works in the Pentagon and, thankfully, was no longer in her former remodeled office at the site of the crash. She is fine but heartsick over missing friends and co-workers who now are presumed dead.
Loretta Fallon's e-mail: Today's horror
Tom Fallon's e-mail: "My God. What happened?"
I have heard from friends around the nation and overseas with stories of support for our country in our time of crisis. I received several e-mails from a friend in New Zealand who is watching the events unfold on TV. I quote from her latest letter, received Thursday morning:
"New Zealanders are generally horrified at what has happened in the U.S. Yesterday, when we awoke to the news, churches across the country held daylong prayer meetings, which are still ongoing, and the U.S. Embassy in Wellington has had flowers laid outside its gates by Kiwis expressing their sorrow.
"None of us will be exempt from the pain -- whether we know someone personally or know someone who knew someone. To see the World Trade Center dissolve in a pile of rubble has to be one of the most horrific sights I have ever witnessed, and I keep hoping to hear stories of miraculous survival. God bless you. You are in our prayers."
These sentiments are being echoed all across the world as people gather in churches and pray for our country, our government and the victims of this vicious and cowardly attack.
So many people, all of us really, have been touched by this tragedy either personally, or through friends or relatives, worried about someone they know who is missing or presumed dead, or just from seeing this unfold before our eyes.
We are hearing so many stories coming to light about cell phone calls from the planes and the heroic acts that may have brought down the plane in Somerset, preventing even more carnage in Washington.
I cannot remember any more what Monday of last week was like.
Lorraine Mutschler a free-lance writer living in Whitehall and Arizona. She can be reached by e-mail at lmutschler2@earthlink.net.
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