The Indomitable Human Spirit
Copyright 2001 by Jenn Thomas-Orr

On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, the United States was attacked in the worst act of terrorism ever recorded. Yet, through it all, the human spirit shines through.

My husband Isaac and I went to a special mass last night at the church. It was amazing, there was standing room only, more people than I recall seeing at Easter Mass, and this with only email, phone calls, and word of mouth to announce the services. There was much weeping and sniffling happening, but over all, a sense of peace seemed to prevail. Our new pastor, Father Dan, spoke about love, peace, repentance and reconciliation. The full choir was present, singing hymns of love and comfort, and at the end of the mass the parish sang America the Beautiful, and there was not a dry eye in the entire Church. I am so grateful that they chose that song instead of the national anthem, which is a song about war. America the Beautiful is a song about the GOOD stuff.

We are frightened, shocked, hurt, deeply and harshly wounded, but our spirit has not been quelled. Our parish, our country, our world, are uniting together in a spirit of brotherhood that is leaving me awestruck.

After a disaster that should have wiped us out emotionally, spiritually, and yes, financially, our people are standing up, in tears, but strong and with hope for the future, they are flocking to and filling the churches, gathering together to perform relief works, joining in a spirit of community. The value of the American dollar, which could have actually plummeted as other countries dumped their US cash reserves, actually rose in value against the Euro yesterday, meaning that they are BUYING dollars, not dumping them, a sign of world support and confidence.

Messages of condolence and support continue to pour in from around the globe. In England, soccer fans have decided to observe two minutes of silence before the games and take up a cash collection to be sent for New York relief. Amazon.Com has collected over three million dollars in donations for the Red Cross from nearly 89,000 netizens. Blood banks have waiting times for donations that are up to six hours long. Yesterday, Israel declared a day of mourning, and on Friday the European Union nations will observe a day of mourning as well. There have been a few scattered incidences of price gouging at the gas tanks and twisted people offering up rubble from the disaster as souvenirs on Ebay, but over all the human response has been overwhelmingly beautiful to see.

I would like to add a serious note here. Many people are angry, and that is understandable. However, I am reading reports of mosques having their windows broken, Arab Americans being accosted, beaten, afraid to leave their homes. Yesterday I learned that a friend of mine was severely beaten up in a convenience store parking lot by several thugs simply because he is of Arabic descent and looks it. They called him a 'f****** towelheaded sand n*****' as they kicked him in the stomach and ribs.

People need to calm down and realize that this was not done to us by God loving people, and it was not done to us by our own citizens, any more than Pearl Harbor was given to us by our own Japanese Americans. This is not World War Two. We cannot target an entire segment of our own population as "The Bad Guys". If there are Bad Guys among them, let them be found out through sane, legal methods. But let us not beat 22 year old men in 7-11 parking lots because they are of Arabic descent. If we are going to abuse our own, then the next stop will be internment camps, 'for their own protection', and I don't know about you, but I don't want to visit that scenario again in our nation's history.

A word about flight 93 and its passengers. Upon being informed via cellular phone conversations that the WTC and Pentagon buildings had been attacked, these brave human beings, one of whom was flying with his two month old son, took their lives into their hands and resisted the hijackers of their plane. Choosing to go down fighting and to hopefully prevent worse damage, they faced down fanatic terrorists, resulting in their plane crashing into a barren, empty field, instead of something that would have resulted in even more death and carnage than we had already experienced. The people on that plane had no idea where they were being aimed for, but chose to risk their lives before the plane could reach whatever its intended target was. They are heroes, and this nation owes them great honors, starting with Medals of Freedom to be awarded posthumously to each person on that plane, from the people who rushed the hijackers right down to the two month old baby.

In years to come, my granddaughter, Kodi, will ask me what happened on September 11, 2001, and I will tell her: The people of this nation faced an attack from an enemy they could not see, could not locate, and we survived it because you cannot quench the human spirit. As long as there are people like the heroic passengers of flight 93, people like the brave emergency workers who entered buildings that they knew were death traps, people like the millions pouring out to donate blood, money, and time, then terrorism cannot win.

God Bless you all, and please, pray.

(Note: Crafters may want to consider how they can use their talents to assist in the relief effort. Selling your work and donating some or all of the proceeds is one idea. I am working on creating dozens of small key fobs from ribbon and roses to offer to friends and family for a small donation, all proceeds to go to the American Red Cross.)

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Written by Jenn Thomas-Orr, editor of Frugal Crafter.