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 God
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 God, 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.
Indianapolis
Star. The column, a blend of humor and common sense, is distributed
nationally by the Knight/Ridder Tribune News Service.Despite
being parents to three kids who are now all teenagers, Lori and
her husband are still able to stand upright and speak in complete
sentences. Her first book is "I Was A Better Mother Before
I Had Kids" by Pocket Books. Visit Lori online at