Information on Heroic Stories, (long) (From Paul Everett)

[J. Paul Everett]

Reaching more than 33,000 subscribers in 106 countries, this is...

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HeroicStories #236: 17 September 2001              www.HeroicStories.com
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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.)

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                         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

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