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Like
many Americans, most local residents spent much of the last week in front of
their television sets watching the tragedy of September 11, 2001 unfold before
their eyes.
For several days almost everything seemed to come to a stop. While most businesses reopened on Wednesday, few employees seemed to get much work done. Local shopping malls were almost deserted. Highway traffic was noticeably lighter.
Local news was dominated by stories of local residents caught in the horrors of New York, Western Pennsylvania and Washington D.C. or by stories of area residents gathering to honor those who had died, those who were injured and those who were working to clear the devastation and search for survivors.
The Philadelphia Phillies were in Atlanta, preparing to face the first place Atlanta Braves in their battle for the National League East pennant. When the series in Atlanta was cancelled, the Phillies bused to Cincinnati for their scheduled weekend series with the Reds. When those games were also cancelled they re-boarded the buses and headed home. Players interviewed were emphatic that baseball was the furthest thing from their minds.
The Philadelphia Eagles held practice on Wednesday, unsure if their scheduled Sunday football game in Tampa Bay would be cancelled. When word finally arrived from the NFL that the weekend games were not to take place, most of the Eagles joined the rest of their neighbors in front of the TV.
Each day, as the week progressed, more American flags could be seen flying from people's houses, from office buildings, from car antennas and on various items of clothing. Most local stores sold out of flags and every other item containing symbols of American freedom.
Friday's National Day of Prayer was marked by numerous local services. Churches reported attendance on Sunday usually seen only at Christmas.
As the new week began, many aspects of life began to return to some semblance of normal. Almost all businesses had reopened, although many were seeing the direct impact of the terrorist attacks.
Tourist attractions - theme parts like Sesame Place and almost any place where large numbers of people tend to gather - all seemed strangely empty. The phones in local travel agencies were quiet, except for people calling to cancel scheduled trips.
The airport had reopened with new and stricter security precautions. Once the rush of people stranded in the city last Tuesday had passed, however, lines were almost non-existent, as few people chose to fly.
The Phillies returned to action on Monday evening in a welcome diversion from the horror of the past week. Before a much larger than usual crowd of almost 35,000 fans - all waving small American flags - the Phillies defeated the Atlanta Braves to move closer to the division leaders. This victory was followed by two others on Tuesday and Wednesday, bringing the team to within a half game of first place.
Local morning radio host Angelo Cataldi of WIP 610 AM suggested that the team seemed much looser and more relaxed than the team that took the field prior to September 11. He surmised, quite reasonably, that the young Phillies previously had been very tense and nervous, being involved in a pennant race so late in the season. Following the tragedy of last week, however, many players may have come to appreciate that baseball is just a game and that there are much more serious and important things in the world. As a result, they now approach their games in a much more relaxed, but focused fashion.
The stock markets in New York and Philadelphia reopened on Monday. Despite a last minute decision by the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, the markets dropped quickly and severely. Particularly hard hit were the stocks of almost all airlines and aircraft manufacturers, including US Air and Boeing, both major area employers.
Devastated by the lack of passengers and a decrease in future bookings, US Air decided to furlough 11,000 employees, many of whom are likely to be based in their Philadelphia hub. Stunned by the cancellation of orders of new planes, Boeing announced plans to layoff 30,000 workers. How many of these will be from Boeing's Delaware County plant is not presently known. Further layoffs in Philadelphia's tourist industry are likely to follow should visitor traffic continue to show signs of significant decline.
Negative signs abound. There is the prospect of a prolonged war against a largely invisible enemy amidst the earth, injury and grief of so many citizens. There is an ever-increasing probability of a full fledged recession, with sizeable unemployment and considerable drops in the heavily stock-invested retirement savings of many Americans. Perhaps above all else, there is the realization that we are indeed not immune to the violence and brutality that we have, until last week, seen only on television.
Despite all this, it is essential for our own survival as residents of the Philadelphia area, citizens of the United States of America and members of the world community, that we fight back against the forces of evil in the world.
Most of us will never see the enemy face-to-face. We pray that we will never meet them as victims of their violence. We can, however, fight back as strongly as any soldier in the mountains of Afghanistan or more powerfully than any cruise missile. We can fight by refusing to give in to their terror. We can fight by refusing to shut ourselves in our houses afraid to gather in public. We can fight by refusing to be confined to our cities and towns, afraid to fly to distant places. We can fight by refusing to fear economic calamity, unwilling to spend our money in American stores or invest our money in American business.
Operation Infinite Justice will be fought not only by a few thousand men and women in distant lands, or by police, FBI or other federal authorities against scattered cells of terrorism in our own country. Operation Infinite Justice will be fought by every man, every woman and every child in America. It will be fought by African Americans, Caucasians, Hispanics and countless other races. It will be fought by agnostics, atheists, Buddhists, Christians, Jews and hundreds of other religions. It will also be fought by American Muslims and Americans of Arab decent who are proud to call this nation their home. If we stand apart in this war, the terrorists will win. Together, however, we will prevail.