Reaching more than 33,000 subscribers in 106 countries, this is... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ HeroicStories #236: 17 September 2001 www.HeroicStories.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Spirit of Service Story Editor: by Helen Rubenstein Joyce Schowalter New York, New York, USA I had the good fortune to help at the Red Cross today. At 7:40 a.m., 12 September 2001, I arrived at the American Red Cross (ARC) building. Already scores of people milled around, including red-jacketed staff. I approached a friend from my days of teaching supervision at ARC and offered help. I was instantly put to work greeting those who'd come to volunteer their services. "I'll carry rocks," one man said. People approached by the hundreds, some shy, some chomping at the bit, all eager to do something -- anything. The ARC is adamant about not endangering volunteers. Yesterday alone, they trained 3,000 volunteers in disaster-related work, from clearing debris, helping families seeking loved ones, or assisting evacuated families. *Three thousand* people. Soon we, behind our volunteer registration forms, had to tell people training classes were full. They asked to donate blood. We sent them to Martin Luther King High School, the blood drive site. By 10 a.m., we had to tell people burning to do something, anything, "Come back tomorrow." One woman said her son had worked nine hours assisting firefighters to move rubble, and it was her turn. She wouldn't leave. I sent her to a supervisor, and later passed her busily working. I told a young man -- barely 20 years old -- that we'd call him back. He replied, "I came from New Hampshire." With a Red Cross group? "No, I just came." He got to help that day. At 10:30 a.m. I answered phones. I saw disaster-workers return with haunted, glazed looks. They came for "debriefings" -- a talk with a mental health professional about their experience working a disaster. A company called asking whether someone could accept a check today. "Yes!" Someone in Chicago had a truckload of produce in the NY area to donate. A pastor who worked disaster relief in Rwanda wanted to trauma-counsel disaster workers. "Come directly here." A nurse with EMT training wanted to know where she's most needed. Medical personnel were being sent to Chelsea Piers. By lunch every form of comfort food known had been donated to feed the hundreds of volunteers and staff working at ARC headquarters. Meat loaf, mashed potatoes, peanut butter and jelly, cheese doodles and chocolate chip cookies. Oh, look! There's a can of water-packed tuna and a plate of spinach. Naaah. Not today. I stood and ate, listening to TV and the conversation around me: "Let's destroy their camps." "I don't think killing more people will do anything to stop this." "The economy." "Who'll fly?" The talking heads on TV finally have something besides the trivial to talk about. New Yorkers (who won't wait in line 5 minutes for a restaurant) lined up for four to eight HOURS to donate blood. In the face of increasing danger from unstable buildings, workers returned again and again, searching, hoping for signs of life in the rubble. There were thousands of heroes that day. May the awe-inspiring spirit of all who helped that day resonate around the world. (Editor's Note: to donate to the American Red Cross New York chapter online, go to http://www.NYRedCross.org/donate . If that server is busy, mail it to ARC, 150 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10023 USA or call toll free 800-514-5103. You can also donate online via Yahoo or Amazon.com, but beware of fraudulent donor sites that are trying to take advantage of your generosity. Please donate DIRECTLY via sites YOU recognize! Sadly, there ARE fraudsters out there trying to take advantage of this tragedy.) ----------==========----------o----------==========---------- HeroicStories Will Start Accepting Advertising NEXT Week. But not This Week. This broadcast is supported by the Reader Sponsorship Fund. http://www.HeroicStories.com/fund.html ----------==========----------o----------==========---------- Next Issue: "The Line" I have found great comfort last week from being out in public. Right now four Japanese 18-year-old girls are staying with me because their flight on September 12th was canceled, stranding them in the USA. Friday evening we shopped at Costco, and sat to eat hot dogs afterwards. The Costco near my house is always a rainbow of Americans, and that evening was no exception. Behind us a father and kids spoke Spanish. In front of us, a Middle Eastern Muslim couple and their children ate pizza. A Chinese family was to our right. Also to our right a Caucasian man sat across from his mother, who sat next to his Thai wife. Suddenly their faces lit up, as a Hindu couple came by pushing a baby in a stroller. They leapt up, cooed over the baby, then lingered, talking with their friends. Scenes like this reassured me that the promise America has held out to the world is still alive. It seems to me that one of our core American values is incredibly important right now: the acceptance of diversity. Diversity of race, diversity of religion, diversity of thought. I've talked with both friends and neighbors about this event, and many of us have differing views. That's beyond OK -- one of our strongest virtues is that people may have differing ideas, *and* can express them. What we're willing to defend are our *freedoms*, which includes diversity of thought. Saturday evening the four girls and I went to Seattle Center, taking flowers to add to the memorial display in the Seattle Center Fountain. Parking at Seattle Center lots was free for those bringing flowers. People of every race and religion streamed toward the fountain, carrying flowers. They placed them on bowers, or laid them in ever-widening circles around the fountain. People chalked messages on the cement sides of the fountain bowl. One woman stood at the edge of the gathering, curling and giving away red, white and blue ribbons for people's lapels. She had a bowl for disaster-relief donations, and paper for people to write letters of condolence to victims. "Believe me, doing this helps," she said. Hundreds of people left flowers, notes, and candles. People grieved together, slowly walking around the circle reading the notes others had left. We held candles and watched them burn. Pictures at: http://www.komotv.com/stories/14069.htm We left Seattle Center and ate hamburgers at a drive-in, standing next to bikers lounging on motorcycles, a policeman, and people of every age and description. We then went to St. Mark's Cathedral, where four Buddhists were welcome to sat amid burning candles in a majestic church. It is becoming clear that not just American lost lives at the WTC. Tony Blair said that 200 to 300 English are among the missing, and it has been said that 36 nations have lost citizens in this attack. The world is uniting to express its sorrow for all who were lost. For *incredible* images of people around the globe mourning those lost, see: http://spot.eroded.org/thankyou People with very diverse voices have written us this week. People from around the world sent condolences, Americans have responded with thankfulness. People have sent suggestions for ways to help, and ways to cope with grief. We have FAR too many letters to publish here. Please see many of our letters on our web site at http://www.HeroicStories.com/11sept2001-comments.html You may also still access our special issues from last week at http://www.HeroicStories.com/11sept2001.html Please pass these URLs to your friends who need the healing power of such positive reactions. Many readers wrote mentioning the need for the media to rise above its obsession with the negative in everyday life. Don in California wrote: "As I watched the TV coverage of our national tragedy, I was surprised and heartened by the many acts of kindness shown by strangers to strangers. Then I was surprised by my surprise. Where I had gotten a view of the world -- of America -- that did not have kindness as a prominent part? Then I realized that every day, the 'news' is almost always that of the worst side of humankind, of murders, rapes, terrorism, greed. The bad news drives out the good news. We need, we *really* need, a dose of 'good news' every day, for our own emotional health, to put life in proper perspective. We have a daily weather report, a daily traffic report. Let's have a daily 'good news' report! Let the reporters get out, search for and find our better side, *every day*! Please, HeroicStories, keep up your efforts, and may others get on board!" Joyce Schowalter, Editor in Chief Co-Conspirator to Make the World a Better Place COMMENTS about stories are always welcome: please include your first name and location: [email protected] --FREE E-MAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS: e-mail [email protected] --TO UNSUBSCRIBE: see the bottom of this message --INFO: http://www.HeroicStories.com or e-mail [email protected] Do YOU have a story that needs to be told? Please read our submission guidelines at http://www.HeroicStories.com/submit.html or send a blank e-mail to [email protected] HeroicStories is a project of www.thisistrue.com and is published by Randy Cassingham, Freelance Communications, PO Box 17326, Boulder CO, 80308 USA. The stories are available to newspapers for FREE as a feature column. 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