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Remembering Tragedy and an Act of Kindness
By Craig Pinley
CHICAGO, IL (September 11, 2003) - There are a lot of things I remember from
September 11, 2001, but the lasting image is of a group of girls asking
me for money after a long week at the office.
The terrorist attacks that killed more than 2,800 at New York's World
Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington D.C. are vivid in the minds
of Americans, and September 11 will always be a date that will brings
painful memories. As a staff writer for Covenant Communications, I shed
tears during a week of talking to Covenanters affected by the events of
that day.
The early morning hours of September 11 (a Tuesday) were spent watching
television at Covenant Offices in Chicago, as colleagues gathered to
pray for those at the World Trade Center. The first terrorist attack on
the World Trade Center occurred at about 9 a.m. EDT, about the time I
was arriving for work. A quick glance at the Internet was enough for me
to know that something devastating had happened in New York.
Cherise Griffin, wife of Oakdale Covenant Church pastor Darrell Griffin,
was on her way to an advertising photography session at Jane Street
Studios, some 12 blocks away from Ground Zero when terrorist attacks
began. "We could see everything," said Griffin, who was in New York that
day on business. "I got out of the taxicab and looked up and the second
plane was exploding (into the World Trade Center). And we were standing
outside of the studio when one of the towers fell."
Photojournalist David Handschuh got an even closer view of the disaster.
I heard Handschuh, who works for the New York Daily News, speak last
year at a journalism conference in Fort Worth, Texas, about his
harrowing 9/11 experiences.
Handschuh arrived in the area at 8:53 a.m., around the time the first
tower was hit. Before the morning was over, he would take a photo of a
park ranger helping a woman who was burned on more than 90 percent of
her body (she died 43 days later). He would also be buried alive, nearly
crushed by debris at the base of the south tower of the World Trade Center.
"As the South Tower began to collapse a strong voice in the back of my
head was saying, 'Run, run, run,'" said Handschuh as he described how he
ended up under four feet of rubble. "I ran 40 or 50 feet and then it was
like I was being picked up by a tornado. I became the first photographer
in space. I was thrown almost a city block and put under a fire chief's
car.
Handschuh was one of the lucky ones. He was pulled out of the debris by
firefighters from Ladder 131 of the New York City Fire Department, whom
he called "a boatload of guardian angels." Two firefighters carried
Handschuh to a local deli and when debris hit the deli, a police officer
threw himself on top of Handschuh to protect the photojournalist.
Handschuh was eventually evacuated by boat to Ellis Island.
In the days following September 11, I heard from many other people with
Covenant connections who avoided death in New York.
- Michael Kellerhals, a graduate of North Park University and a
member of the Evangelical Covenant Church of Paxton, Illinois, was
scheduled to be on one of the two planes that crashed into the twin
towers of the World Trade Center. A last-minute change in plans prompted
him to cancel his ticket.
- The father of a North Park University student was on a morning
flight from Boston to New York City that was ordered to return and land
at the Boston airport. He was scheduled to be at the World Trade Center
that day.
- Jeff Schuman of Bethany Covenant Church, Berlin, Connecticut,
normally would have been in his financial office at the World Trade
Center in New York City on the morning of 9/11. However, he decided not
to make the commute and worked from his home instead.
- Bev Freeman, another parishioner at Bethany Covenant, learned that
her son, Greg, had planned to vote in a primary election during the
morning hours, which would have taken him to the World Trade Center. But
he had changed his mind and decided to vote after work.
I also heard about people like New York City firefighter Bruce Van Hine,
who was killed when the towers collapsed at the World Trade Center. Van
Hine, the brother of former Christian Education staff member Bobbie
Bower and the uncle of Betzy Cisneros of Christian Formation, left
behind a wife and two daughters.
Mari-Rae Sopper, newly-appointed as women's gymnastics coach at the
University of California-Santa Barbara, was on a flight to California
when her plane was diverted and eventually crashed into the Pentagon.
Kendall Dahlstrom, Sopper's godfather and pastor of the Evangelical
Covenant Church in South Bend, Indiana, conducted the funeral service
for his goddaughter five days later.
Another casualty in the Pentagon terrorist attack was Dan Shanower of
Naperville, Illinois, who had been my dorm director in college.
Shanower's brother Jon was a college baseball teammate and his father
was one of my professors. I was among those attending Dan's memorial
service 11 days later as military co-workers and friends described Dan's
quick wit and caring attitude.
I drove home that Friday and like many people, was worn out from the
week's events. As I was opening the driver's side door when six Covenant
girls I knew from the neighborhood came running up to me. They asked me
if I had any money to donate for a project they had organized. The
mother of two of the girls told me that they raised $200 for relief
efforts (through the Red Cross) over two days.
There were only five $1 dollar bills in my wallet but I gladly gave them
to the girls. Two years the actions of those girls, and of some many
others like them, are what give me hope for the future.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
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