| Subject: Introductory Message |
Author:
Rhoel
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Date Posted: 02:27:09 09/14/01 Fri
It is quite difficult, if not entirely impossible, to watch on TV the tragic events of September 11 and feel nothing. In fact, despite continuous replays – of the airplanes crashing into the twin towers, workers jumping out the windows, people scrambling for cover, the towers collapsing, the horrific aftermath, etc. – which should have “immunized” us by now, I still couldn’t help feeling some heaviness on the chest whenever those footages are shown. I feel sorry for the airplane passengers, I feel sorry for those who opted to jump 80-or-so stories below, I feel sorry for the people who were crushed by the rubble, I feel sorry for the loved ones left behind.
It becomes increasingly painful whenever I think that those who were killed were ordinary men, women and children just going about their daily routines whose precious lives have been snuffed out senselessly in a most barbaric manner. It’s so easy to be carried away by our emotions and curse the monsters behind the attacks, but for now let’s forget about them… for their day will come. Instead, let us focus on those who perished, their bereaved families, friends and colleagues, and those who miraculously survived. Most of us may not be able to donate blood or money or even volunteer our services. But I know we can help in alleviating their grief by offering our words of sympathy and our prayers.
Therefore, I invite you – Filipinos and non-Filipinos alike – to post brief messages in this forum. I request everyone, however, to refrain from making remarks about the perpetrators of this heinous crime. Let us focus on the victims and the bereaved.
Then I urge you to let others know of this forum. More importantly, if you have American relatives and friends, let them know too about this. For in here they will feel that they are not alone during this moment of grief. This is not about being pro- (or anti-) American, this is about human beings commiserating with fellow human beings. Simply said, it’s about human beings.
God bless.
P. S.
The horrendous attack on the World Trade Center is symbolically an attack on the global community. For how else can one describe an attack on the twin edifices that housed multinational companies employing peoples of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds? And this is why not only America, but the entire world, is – and should be – in grief. For indeed many other countries have lost their people as well.
With Filipinos belonging to the top three largest immigrant groups in the US – in New York alone the Filipino population is said to be more than 100,000 with a considerable percentage working at the WTC – it would be a miracle not to have Filipino casualties. We can only hope for that miracle. Or we can pray that the number of Filipino casualties would be very very minimal.
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