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September 17, 2001

This has been a tough week for all Americans and the world.

The attached is commentary from my cousin’s son Doug Cochrane who is a student at NYU. I felt that this is more meaningful than the “Good News” that I have prepared for the week. June and I leave Tuesday for three weeks and we are somewhat more than nervous, but we both feel that as Americans we should try to minimize the disruption in our lives and schedules caused by this act of war.

The following is text from ground Zero

PS, Doug is a wonderful young man!

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Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 22:20:13 -0500

”I saw the first plane hit the world trade center at 8:48 Tuesday morning. I was on my way to class. I was walking up 5th avenue between 10th and 11th streets when everyone looked up. There was this very large low flying plane above our heads. It isn’t weird to see planes above lower Manhattan-but never so low. We all just stared at the plane. It was flying right above 5th Ave so we could see it through the buildings. We all thought, “What if it hits a building?” Then it did! Everything was crazy. For about two seconds there was silence.

The building looked like when bugs bunny runs through a snowdrift and leaves an exact impression. There was an exact impression of a plane in the side of the building. Then the plane exploded. Everyone was screaming and yelling. We couldn’t understand. This is NYC! Things like this only happen in movies! This doesn’t happen to our city! We thought it must be a drunken pilot or a bazaar accident, but it wasn’t. Everyone took out their cameras and took pictures and then went on to their business. It was unbelievable. I went to my 9:00 class and told everyone what happened. Class was really weird Tuesday. At 10:30, when class got out, the twin towers were gone. They called a meeting for all of us and we were updated about the pentagon and the missing planes. We were then reassured of the president’s safety. The room I was in was full of mourners and criers and frantic phone-callers.They let us leave at 1:00 to go back to our dorms. Half the NYU dorms were evacuated because they were so close to the tragedy- mine was just far enough away to have not been evacuated. The city was changed completely. There were no cars in the streets. Everything was silent. Nothing was heard. New York was a ghost town. All anyone could focus on was the steady rise of smoke coming from about a very few blocks from where I live.

I shall never forget that day as long as I live.The recent days have been scary. There is still no traffic. My dorm was evacuated and then we were let back in. Wednesday night a thick cloud of smoke engulfed Washington Square Park. Barricades were put up at 14th street (above me) to keep all of us below where we are silent but, more importantly, to keep freaks out. The military came in jeeps. It’s a war zone here in southern Manhattan. I am just so very, very close.

As suffocating as the air is, the grief is even more oppressive. We are surrounded by sorrow and dispair. People are looking for lost or dead loved ones, as well as mouring those who have died.

School-—as well as any other activities where we are—has stopped. Thousands of our neighbors are dead. The people living across the street from us are missing. Life sucks in New York—but we’re New Yorkers—and not even this can keep us down.

Something very important things to note with regards to this terrible tragedy

• Not one incident of looting or rioting was reported in the area
• Over 500 doctors and 150 nurses reported to St. Vincents hospital to volunteer their services
• All over the country, so many people were helping by giving blood that a lot of facilities had to turn people away... not because they still don’t need the blood, but because they didn’t have the capabilities to process the amount coming in
• There are many reports of victims helping victims to escape the horrors, and staying around for triage.

New York is an amazing place, as is the rest of the United States. I am honored to be here.

Please say a prayer for all those families who have lost or are still waiting to hear from a loved one.

Doug Cochrane