Jewish World Review Sept. 14, 2001 / 25 Elul, 5761

Lori Borgman

Lori Borgman
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A Time to Mourn

http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- THERE'S no humor in my column today. I can't find anything amusing about family or the foibles of everyday life. Readers often turn to this column looking for a break from the everyday grind. After the horrific shock we've all endured in recent days, I'd love to make you chuckle - but I can't.

Ecclesiastes says there is a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to dance and a time to mourn. This is a time to mourn.

Only a few days have passed since the bloody terrorist attack on our country that shattered thousands upon thousands of lives and forever altered the course of future. This is a time for quietude and reflection.

Fellow citizens are still burying their dead, waiting for positive identification, reeling from horror and coming to grips with the reality of lives without a beloved husband, wife, mother, father, sister, brother, co-worker, colleague, neighbor or friend. This is a time to show respect for the dead and compassion for the grieving. It is still a time for being subdued, shaking our heads and grappling with the ghost of disbelief.

Burn victims convalesce in hospitals fighting infection and searing pain. Emergency workers, medical personnel and rescue squads collapse utterly exhausted, close their eyes in search of sleep, and automatically replay blood and flesh images that most of us have seen only through the antiseptic filter of the television screen.

This is the time to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. This is the time to marvel at the mettle of Americans in crisis, and to savor the stories of survivors. This is the time to fall on our knees and thank G-d for the harrowing escapes of those like the Port Authority worker who rode rubble down 82 floors and survived.

This is a time to file in our memories the stories of heroes, courage and bravery. May we ingrain in our memories the sight of firefighters raising a flag in the rubble of the World Trade Center. May we long remember the throngs of people waiting to donate blood, and law-enforcement agents and special task forces across the country saying goodbye to families in order to rush to the aid of strangers.

This is a time to get right with G-d, to own up to the truth that we are all mortal and will one day face our Creator.

Gradually, slowly, life will return to some semblance of normal. But normal will be different now. Guarded and cautious. We will pause more often, hesitate frequently, take a second look and wonder. And then we will press on.

We will not stop until we have swept away the rubble and rebuilt - the skyline of New York City, the Pentagon and our personal determination. We will prepare ourselves and our loved ones for battles that lie ahead.

American freedom has been built on the cornerstones of suffering and sacrifice. The generation ahead of mine knows that well. They were young people when they received word of Pearl Harbor. They can tell you where they were and what they were doing - and how they faced fear and rose to the challenge.

September 11th, 2001, will be the date etched in today's minds, forever remembering where we were and what we were doing - and how we faced fear and rose to the challenge.

We will move forward. We will be smart, strong and resolute. And some day, we will even smile.


JWR contributor Lori Borgman is the author of I Was a Better Mother Before I Had Kids. To comment, please click here.

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05/25/01 Cyborgs for Better or Worse
05/18/01 The death of Common Sense

© 2001, Lori Borgman