Part III

sfs98ud99 · Wed, 12 Sep 2001 16:08:32 -0700

In talking with my sister, she said that her
husband's commanding officer asked if he was ok while they
were in lockdown - he was supposedly worrying about me
and showing it. My sister's response was the most
emotional - after hearing the message from a relative that
I was ok, she just sat down and cried. I'm so glad
that that relative called when he did - my mother was
already worried sick, and she was weeping when she picked
up the phone after knowing that I was ok.

You
probably know that I have very specific poltical views.
I'm not going to share them. Here's what I will
share.

o The part that sickens me is that people were told
to tell loved ones that they were going to die. I
cannot imagine anyone doing this. At all.

o I
have wanted to be involved in international relations
for more than a decade. Every time an embassy gets
bombed or there's a terrorist attack, there's always a
gut check. I hate saying this, but this strengthens
my resolve to make the world a better place and I'm
not going to quit. And I'm going to keep on going
back every day that I am able until they put me in a
pine box.

o There's always good to go with the
bad. People who eventually died in the WTC performing
search and rescue, people who fought the hijackers and
who may have saved other lives - people who helped
those who weren't able to help themselves. There will
always be evil in the world, but I fundamentally believe
that there will always be good, too. And if there is
good, then evil can't win.

o Our side wasn't
hit. I don't know why. I'm thankful that it wasn't,
and hope that the numbers of dead and injured are as
small as they can be. I harbor no illusions that God
decided to save me - many other people were fine, and
many people did die. I can't pretend to understand
why.

o For those of you who did worry about me, thank
you - it just sort of overwhelmed and stunned me to
see emails from people checking on how I
was.

o Last thing, and the most important one of all. I
saw this in a Sports Illustrated article about the
Texas A&M bonfire collapsing - one coach who had lost a
son in a car accident said "Don't ever hang up the
phone without telling someone how much you love them,
because you never know if you're going to get another
chance".

I'm going to cry a little now. Take care and be safe.