[meteorite-list] Off-topic but ...

From: Bernd Pauli HD <bernd.pauli_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:02:26 2004
Message-ID: <3C8D3895.9D7F30ED_at_lehrer1.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de>

When I went online on September 11, at about 16:00 hrs CET, I found
this message from one of our list members:

"For those of you who haven't heard yet America has been attacked. This
makes the Oklahoma bombing look like child's play. A plane has hit the
Pentagon and one plane has hit each of the World Trade Center towers.
One of the towers has collapsed. According to some news reports up to
three of our commercial planes have been hijacked as well."

Little did I know then that this email would usher in a time of pain and
suffering, a time of almost unsurmountable grief and sorrow - grief for
the ones whose lives had been wasted and sorrow for the ideals of a free
world. I had been aware of injustice but September 11 marked the
beginning of a new dimension of terror. People from all creeds, human
beings from every national and ethnic background became the victims of
blind ideologically oriented hatred and a determined although evil will
to push this world to the brink of disaster ... and all this within
minutes.

Here is a brief overview of how some of our list members immediately
responded:

"... we are just over a mile away from what was the World Trade Center,
and all of the eastern sky is covered with smoke. We saw the second
tower collapse from the bank of the Hudson. It was a terrible sight."

"Please pray for the thousands of dead in our country today."

"I feel I have to say something to our friends in the US but I do not
know what because I have no words."

"How sad that humankind is capable of such things. I am going to go hug
my children and remind my husband how much I love him. Then I will pray
for the strength of today's survivors."

"... anyone who dances and cheers the deaths of thousands of people is
not a human being, but an animal."

"As an American, I am finding it very difficult to feel compassion for
my enemies or harbour thoughts of peace. Yet a friend sent this to me
yesterday to remind me of the common foundation of Good at the heart of
all faiths and people."

"We mourn and pray for all those people who are lost or missing ... and
whose families grieve. The world in which we all awoke on Tuesday
morning is no longer. Justice will be done. Those who must pay will pay.
And then we must all build a better world ... together. May God have
mercy on us all."


Good Night,

Bernd
Received on Mon 11 Mar 2002 06:07:01 PM PST