Lords Helpers

 By Linda Sedrick Pearson

 (I wrote this article on September 11, 2009. When the planes flew into the World Trade Center, I was scared. I did not know what to do and tried to make sense of it all. As I watched and listened to the news reports, the news seemed to continue to get worse that dreadful day. I could not pull myself away from the television, but I could no longer bear to hear the voices of the reporters. I muted the sound and continued to watch. Only now, I began to watch the people and their reactions – facial expressions and body language. That is how The Face of America was born. I only hope that through this article you also will be able to make some sense of the tragedy that hit all Americans on September 11, 2001. This version is reworded a little to correct some errors in the grammar.-LS Pearson)

In Memory

 The face of America is not a group of buildings destroyed. It is not heaps of burning rubble with smoke rising and ash covering the ground. This face is not one of helplessness and discouragement or easily giving up.

 America’s face is two firemen hugging one another in comfort with tears in their eyes just moments after a building descended upon the people they had worked with side by side. Then, they turn and charge into the chaos to look for survivors, hoping they find more alive than dead.

A fifth grade class shows us the face of America as they inform the principal of the school that they have some pennies that need to be given to those in New York who need it. This brought about the school setting up a huge bin for the students and adults to drop in the bits of money they could dig up.

First graders from another part of America hurriedly make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Then, tiny hands lovingly set a Hershey’s Kiss atop before the package is wrapped to be sent to rescuers. This is the face of America.

 Trucks line up and patiently wait their turn (some for over seven hours) to enter the city, bringing badly needed supplies. The drivers proudly fly the American flag and sing our national anthem as they wait. The face of America shines proudly.

All these are a small part of the face of America that makes a strong statement. A nation of people rallies to comfort and help one another. People arrive to relieve those who are exhausted and ready to collapse from the smoke, ash, and hours (days) of work that have saturated their bodies. A hand reaches out in comfort and squeezes the arm of a fatigued rescuer. This act gives the man strength to arise and continue the search. These too are part of the face of America.

 The face of America is all those who are lost in the disorder and rumbling of falling buildings. It is all those who were rescued and those who, through no thought for their own safety, return again and again to find those lost in the debris.

America’s face is the emails and calls offering a place to stay to those who are stranded at airports. It is people who returned to work at the Pentagon while the building was still burning. It is the three who fought hijackers over a plane.

The face of America is not a people under attack. It is a people, a whole nation, pulling together to show the world that face.

Yes, there is anger, frustration, and shock. But, through all that comes love, strength, and pride. It is a nation of people joined together as one. This is the face of America.

(Copyright © 2001 Linda Sedrick Pearson)

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