Kindness in a Time of Tragedy

As people across the United States remember the horrible events that happened eleven years ago today, I find that I also have memories of the great kindnesses of people during that time. 

Hubby and I had just finished a cruise to Alaska when the unbelievable news of the attack on the twin towers was broadcast over the ship's televisions.  Within hours we arrived in Vancouver, Canada, to discover that the world had changed.  Our cruise ship was greeted with a police escort and bomb sniffing dogs.  Those of us who had reservations in Vancouver lined up silently to leave the ship.  Each person was checked and screened as we moved through the dock area.  We quickly went to our motel room and turned on the news to discover we were now stranded in a foreign country with our boarders closed to us.

After several hours of news we decided that we needed to get out of the room and move around a little.  Unsure of what to expect, we wandered the streets of beautiful Vancouver.  Everywhere we went, we were greeted with outpourings of sympathy.  Clerks in shops, upon recognizing our accents, would grasp our hands with a warm squeeze.  Other shoppers would stop and offer their condolences and friendship.  Strangers were moved to give us hugs.  Offers of assistance came from unlikely quarters, from the cabbie who showed us a beautiful park where we could have tranquility and quiet, to the waitress who was willing to track down a place for us to stay if we were stranded.  (Many were stranded.  With five or six cruise ships dumping thousands of passengers and airlines unable to leave, those without prior reservations were without rooms.)  We were comforted by the show of support and empathy from the entire city.

The outpouring of concern and love wasn't just evident in Canada, but also across the United States.  Our son was living in rural Kansas at the time of the attack.  The immediate grounding of all the flights across America finally put into effect Eisenhower's grand plan for the interstate highways.  When the interstate highway system was first envisioned, President Eisenhower, ever a military strategist, demanded that spots would be planned that would accommodate emergency landing of airplanes.  If needed, these roadways could become landing strips for our military all across America.  In rural Kansas, with no airports near when the call to land all planes came, a passenger plane was forced to land on one of the roadways.  Stranded, literally miles from nowhere, the passengers exited the plane.

Surrounded by corn fields as far as the eye could see, on a road that stretched out to the horizon, the passengers were surprised to see a line of cars approaching them.  The little community closest to the landing site was arriving to help.  They ferried the stranded travelers to the local high school where they were soon settled into the gymnasium.  With no restaurant to cater to them, the local "hot casserole" brigade went into action.  Soon women began arriving with hot food, drinks, and comfort.  With no Walmart to run to, they also showed up with anything they could grab to make their unexpected guests comfortable.  Pillows, blankets, sleeping bags, newspapers, magazines, books, radios and even televisions appeared in the gym.

For nearly two days this community fed, comforted, entertained and housed the stranded travelers.  When the buses arrived to take the passengers the 2 1/2 hours back to Wichita, the townspeople were there to send them off with hugs and snacks for the long trip.   Strangers had become friends. 

I love the old saying "every cloud has a silver lining".  Over the years of my life I have seen that even the most tragic of circumstances can have moments of great joy and love.  On this day, let us remember those moments, too.