LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, Sept. 14
By:
No solace. No comfort. No word.
To the editor:
And still no word. Not knowing is the worst nightmare. But what can we do?
We take food but are careful to make it "non-funereal" pizza for lunch, cokes in the cans, a bag of bagels/not the bagel "platter" the food has to look like filler, not pity.
Too many cars in front of the house remind us: no word. The front door is open. Why lock it now? The porch light stays on. Her in-laws never leave; her friends, only to check on their own bewildered children. The minister stops but doesn’t stay long. This is not Death.
Day one, the TV was on. The phone rang and rang with questions about him, about her, about their just-off-to-college son. Day two, the phone rarely rang. Friends call other friends to check on her … don’t want to tie up the phone for the call. Curious neighbors keep a careful distance while whispering prayers and harboring fears. We all wait.
And we visit. We sit outside during these brutally beautiful days and inside on these star-satiated nights. We drink cokes or tea. Some of us try to tell stories far afield of the events and, momentarily, there is nervous but appreciative laughter.
And then the phone rings. She doesn’t answer. The sister-in-law is in charge of the phone. A thick spiral notebook dutifully holds all the calls of caring to be returned when there is news. We try not to listen as she responds but the conversations pause, sense her tone and rekindle. There is still no word.
Of course the news drones on and on. The indelible video of the plane and then the disintegration of the building where her husband worked plays over and over and over and over for the rest of us. And out back, while she washes her face (or cries alone upstairs), we speculate in careful adjectives.
We ask each other how to help. We bring more food. Our hands need work, our imaginations relief. And we worry for our own children: Will they have a future like the comfortable past we have squandered? And we worry for the country and we agonize for the other families. We give blood. And, yes, we still hope.
And we pray and we visit some more. But the creeping dread now sits in the room with us like the unwelcome guest who talks too loud. Out back he follows us leaning too close with his awful breath.
No solace in the chapels. No comfort in the prayers. And still no word.
Jane Oakley
Montgomery Avenue
Rocky Hill
These are times for
gentleness, compassion
To the editor:
As I write this letter, I am numb with sorrow and grief over the significant loss of lives and property during the cowardly attack on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and our airline industry.
Due to the fact that the Princeton area communities are home to so many people who work in the World Trade Center, the airline industry and the Washington area, it is time for us to stop and pray for those who have lost significant loved ones, because we are going to find that neighbors or friends of each of us has felt a significant loss. Others will be impacted as their means of making a living feel the effects.
These are times in our lives when we must reach out a hand of support, or offer a word of encouragement, or lend a shoulder to our friends and neighbors who are grieving. These are times when the true meaning of community and family is measured. These are times to take stock of one’s own life and one’s own affairs, and recognize that it will not be business as usual for some time to come.
Let us not be too quick to come to judgment as we seek to find those responsible for these acts of terrorism. Let us all be gentle and compassionate with each other, and not let emotions rule our actions. Rather, let quiet and thoughtful introspection be our guide.
David L. Holmes
President and Executive Director
The Eden Family of Services
Chairman
Chamber of Commerce of the
Princeton Area Communities
Our neighbor
is not our enemy
To the editor:
To our community on behalf of our organization, we express heartfelt sympathies to all who lost family and friends, or suffered injury, as a result of the events of Sept. 11. We further recognize that each one of us is forever changed and forever affected by those terrible events. A feeling of disbelief permeates all corners of our community, nation and the world.
What makes our situation all the more difficult to come to terms with is our inability to name or recognize with explicit clarity exactly who did this to us and to be able to hold them accountable. It is human nature to want to strike back at those who have hurt us so.
In our need to respond, let us not forget that the enemy is not within and certainly not out next-door neighbor. Let it be our resolve to embrace all the members of our community and to stand hand-in-hand in our democracy that celebrates our differences as the pillar of freedom, liberty and justice for all.
Andrea Spuck
President
Eileen Conway
Executive Director
YWCA Princeton
Going on offensive
will not serve us
To the editor:
My daughter called me this morning and said, "Mom, the World Trade Center has been hit by two planes!" Not long after that, I heard the rest of the very sad news.
When I think of the lost lives of today, I’m sad for the grief their loved ones will experience. However, I’m also afraid that people are saying that we need to retaliate. That means more grief for somebody somewhere. I’d like to do it differently.
Could we ask ourselves: What is making people willing to kill themselves and others? Some will say it’s their religious fanaticism. Partly yes, but I believe it comes out of deep pain from seeing themselves and their loved ones live with poverty and injustice and in seeing the "Rich American" going on with his life that seems centered on materialism at the cost of others.
This idea may be incorrect, yet that’s what they are taught. A rage can build from this lack of fairness that has nothing to do with religion. If we go on the offensive now, I do not believe it will serve us. I’d like us to try compassion and going to a different kind of peace table and use force only to protect ourselves not to punish.
I’ve been learning a communication language that helps get everyone’s needs (universal needs, such as caring, justice, safety, etc.) met. The book that describes it is called "Nonviolent Communication" by Marshall Rosenberg. The Web site is www.cnvc.org. I’ve seen amazing resolutions happen using this process.
Let’s react a new way. Our old way brings more pain to all in the end. Let’s pray for those in charge now. They need our support.
Eliane Geren
Dempsey Avenue
Princeton
Wake up, America!
We are at war
To the editor:
Today, after a day that shook our country at its core and exposed every emotion, I was disgusted to hear a woman on TV say, "It’s like we’re at war." I am struck by this person’s ignorance and want to yell: "Wake up, America!"
When we are attacked, we are at war! I am shocked by that woman’s statement but hardly surprised. I have watched our society become more concerned with Hollywood stars than with its own country and what is happening in the world. We must never, ever take our freedom for granted. Freedom is not and has never been free. Our founding fathers told us this.
Wake up, America, and stand behind the president now more than ever. President Bush in his address to the nation Tuesday said, "We must remain keenly aware of the threats to our country."
We must all work to keep our freedom. I almost lost my brother yesterday, and my family is praying for those who are suffering today.
Janeane and Bruce Boillotat
Halstead Place
West Windsor
Rebuild mentalities
into towers of accord
To the editor:
It is 3 a.m. in New Jersey and I awake to the sound of planes flying over my home and the delayed sinking in of the tragic events that have occurred here on the East Coast. I can decipher that the planes flying above are not commercial. Living near a military base, one develops an ear for that distinction.
I feel as though my body has caught up to what my senses have witnessed these past few days, and like most it is beyond my comprehension. Having a sensitive respiratory system, I am finding it difficult to breathe and there is a dull burning in my throat.
As I drove to work this morning, there was a blanket of black on the horizon. I could not help but realize the remains of the dead are a part of that shroud which physically covers the region and emotionally the nation.
I cannot and will not try to imagine what the victims of this tragedy, dubbed "Attack on America," were fated. The images the media have fed our society’s insatiable need for violence are more than enough for me. I am grateful to have the option.
I can only hope that this exorbitant loss of human life can somehow hold a positive reaction and change in this world. Whatever our individual beliefs, we cannot ignore this colossal message. We need to understand that the perpetrators of these heinous acts are playing their proverbial parts in the grand scheme of something greater than ourselves. This cannot be ignored.
It is understandable that the ignorance that perpetrated these acts has yielded reactions from those equally challenged. It is an opportune time for the current administration to lead this country with grace, dignity and with careful consideration for the future of all humanity.
It is also a time for all to make that consideration. It is a simple choice of being part of the solution or a part of the problem. We all know what the problem is. However, we need to decide what our capacity is, what our influence is and what we will try cultivating.
We are not cave men. We live in a time where information is available to those who seek it. We have the communicative capacity to spread the message of each and a new way of thinking. This, not a regime of finance, is what globalization needs to be about.
Let us rebuild our mentalities into towers of accord, seeded in the memory of the towers of finance.
Michelle M. Fecher
Robbinsville
Traffic tie-ups
loom on horizon
To the editor:
When reading the Princeton Township Newsletter received over the weekend, which reported plans for moving books from the public library to the shopping center, I was dumbfounded to read: "While the temporary space is smaller than the current library, patrons can expect the same service once the move is complete, said Library Director Leslie Burger."
If that is the case, I wonder why in heaven’s name is a larger new library to the tune of $17,500,000 needed to replace the present one which can provide for additional services before adding additional space if and when necessary.
Before the move of books is scheduled to take place in October, Princetonians including workers, merchants, school children and teachers, police and fire department personnel, ambulance drivers, etc. should face up to the reality of a traffic tie-up for up to the next three years at one of the town’s busiest intersections and the impact it will have throughout the community. A case in point but to a much lesser degree is the prolonged time that has been involved in the construction of the new township hall which will continue to block the intersection of Route 206 and Valley Road for an indefinite period of time.
Instead of adding to such traffic problems which will increase incredibly over the next three years from continuing commercial growth our first priority should be to add parking facilities at the Spring Street library parking location as part of the downtown development program.
If the serious consequences of new library construction are to be avoided, it is necessary that local government representatives be contacted promptly requesting that building plans be canceled.
John K. Lee
Hun Road
Princeton
It’s time for a change
on Township Committee
To the editor:
In November, we will have an excellent opportunity to bring about some constructive changes in the makeup of the Princeton Township Committee.
Two Green Party candidates, Emily Cook and Jeff Gorman, are running for the two seats that will be available on the committee.
Emily is a social worker concerned with the elderly who has worked and lived in our town for 14 years. Jeff is the owner of Creative Computing, a father of three and has lived in Princeton since 1996.
We have seen our taxes increase beyond inflation rate by a large margin because of questionable decisions by the present members of the Township Committee.
It is time for a change. It is time for fresh new perspectives. It is time for some new ideas and it is time for fiscal sanity.
Emily Cook and Jeff Gorman bring fresh ideas and approaches to governing with the interests and concerns of all Princeton citizens and taxpayers, our environment and quality of life as primary concerns. They will promote open government with no backroom deals or hidden agendas. This will serve as an inspiration and example to all New Jersey communities.
Help them to make Princeton a model governed community in all respects by supporting their election to the Princeton Township Committee.
Visit their Web site at www.iloveprinceton.org.
Let’s start voting for the persons – not the parties.
Steve Slaby
Ewing Street
Princeton

