[This article was printed six months after the Muslim terror=
ist attack on Sept 11, 2001. Here on the 25th anniversary of thi=
s heinous attack, we see the first reaction of survivors and the children. =
We reprint it here lest we forget the battle in which our world is still en=
gaged]
In the Feb. 25, 2002, issue of=
People magazine the cover photo is a special, double-page layout that you =
must see. No, it’s not a Victoria’s Secret model shoot. No, it’s not the ca=
st of "Friends" or "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
It’s a group =
picture of mothers and babies — 31 widows of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack=
s and the 32 infant sons and daughters their fathers will never hold. There=
are lean babies. Chubby babies. Smilers. Criers. Snoozers. A bubbly set of=
twins. All of them dressed in white. All of them born into this world with=
out the fathers who had happily anticipated their arrival — until alien te=
rrorists invaded our skies and took daddy after daddy after daddy away.
Pe=
ople magazine brought the women and their children together last month for =
interviews and photos in New York City, where they "quickly formed a c=
onfederacy of mourning and support." Holli Silver, 38, of New Rochelle=
, N.Y., mother of Rachel, 3, and 5-month-old Danielle, explained: "We =
don’t have to ask ‘How are you?’ because we all know how we’re doing. We al=
l know what we went through."
=
During what should be the happiest time=
in their lives, these new young mothers are grieving in private, wearing t=
heir husbands’ pajamas, and taking bittersweet solace in beautiful children=
who have their daddies’ laugh, hair, hands and toes.
People identified at least 50 women who have given birth to c=
hildren whose fathers perished in the Sept. 11 attacks. The first was 8-lb.=
, 10.5-oz. Farqad Chowdhury, born on Sept. 13 in Queens. As of Feb. 12, the=
most recent was 5-lb., 12-oz. Robin Ornedo, born Jan. 31 in Los Angeles. &=
quot;They are Irish, Italian, African-American, Latino, Christian, Jewish a=
nd Muslim," the magazine reports. "And their parents hail not jus=
t from New York and Washington but also from Boston, Arizona, Toronto and e=
ven Sligo, Ireland."
This is exactly what we need right now. At a tim=
e when the bloody shock of terrorism has faded from the media’s radar scree=
n, this story — and this cover photo filled with the babies of murdered fa=
thers — provide jolting reminders of why we are at war. And why we must no=
t sink back into a pre-Sept. 11 mindset of triviality and self-indulgence. =
Osama bin Laden is a distant memory, yesterday’s news. Figure-skating scan=
dals, sex courses at the University of California at Berkeley and campaign =
finance reform-posturing dominate the headlines this week. But out of the s=
potlight, young mothers are still grappling with the raw horror caused by a=
l Qaeda’s uncaptured mastermind. Courtney Acquaviva, 31, of Glen Rock, N.J.=
, mother of 3-year-old Sarah and 8-week-old Paul, told People about a recen=
t breakfast conversation with her daughter: "’Is Daddy still dying?’ H=
ow do you answer that?" Acquaviva explained to the toddler: "Dadd=
y couldn’t come home. A lot of daddies couldn’t come home. But they love us=
still."
When told that her father is "in the stars," Fahin=
a Chowdhury, 6, asked her mom for binoculars. "I want to see my dad,&q=
uot; she said. Four-year-old Donald McIntyre Jr., son of a Port Authority p=
olice officer who died at the World Trade Center, comforts his newborn baby=
sister when she cries: "Do you miss your daddy?" his mother says=
Donald Jr. asks the baby. "Then he’ll tell her, ‘I do. I cry too.’&qu=
ot;
This magazine cover photo and story will shake you not only because of=
who’s featured in it, but also because of who does not appear. It brings t=
o my mind the forgotten husbands who lost pregnant wives during the Sept. 1=
1 terrorist attacks. And the children who lost parents. And the parents who=
lost only children. And the entire families whose lives were erased by hom=
icidal maniacs masquerading as religious warriors. And all the widows and c=
hildren of past al Qaeda terrorist attacks that faded long ago from public =
memory.
Lest we forget: We are at war. Evil remains on the loose. Children=
are still crying themselves to sleep. Things are not yet back to "nor=
mal." And they won’t be for a long time to come.
~~
Dr Bob Griffin
[email protected] www.grif.net=
Continue steadfastly in prayer,
being watchful in it with thanksgiv=
ing.