A Casual E-msg From Many Years Ago

I came across this e-message I sent some time after 9/11...I wonder how long it will be before the pain begins to lessen ... In any event, my emails are extremely casual...This one is no exception.

look...i am a new yorker...we were driving thru the city the day before sept. 11th..we were, in fact, at a motel in cherry hill, nj preparing to finish the drive to nc the next day...i wondered why the trooper stopped us and looked in the back of our car as we approached the chesapeake bay bridge/tunnel....we turned the radio on and listened to what was happening in new york city...it was brutal...when we got home we immediately turned on the tv...by then the towers had fallen and the pentagon had been hit... morgan and i stayed awake all nite watching the horror and not yet knowing who was responsible...it was numbing to realize that someone hated america and americans enuf to do such a dastardly thing..we didn't know yet how seriously, or to what extent our country was in danger...

but, we must not become the people who did this terrible thing...we must ask why it happened to us...we must resolve any holes in our security systems...we must change our behavior...we must keep our children safe...our families safe...our country safe...we must become better neighbors to the people around the world...we must return to setting a good example to those around us...we must learn to stop the hate...we must love our neighbors...next door, down the street, in the next country, around the world...we must act as christians, as jews, as muslims, as buddists, as shintoists, we must embrace all colors of skin, today we must look at our president as our president...not as our black president...we must teach our children not to discriminate against people who are not like
them...South Pacific is an old musical...but, in it there is a number entitled: "You've Got To Be Taught To Hate."...or the number from West Side Story, "America" ... the broadway performances of the 50s and 60s tried to warn us not to discriminate...we are taking entirely too long to learn ...

america is composed of immigrants...from europe, from south america, from africa, from asia, from australia, from cuba...and so on...america is truly a melting pot...we are so fortunate to live here...we have to learn to accept and get along with people from around the world....there is so much to learn....learning new cultures will never harm us...we are all children of God...we are all heirs to the kingdom of heaven...