It was the day terrorism reared the ugliest–we hope–of its ugly heads, but it was also the day compassion, courage and kindness shone like rays of light that could not be extinguished. While the skies over Manhattan, the Pentagon and the Philadelphia countryside clouded over with smoke from crashed airplanes, the dark cloud of terrorism also covered the rest of the world with its pallor of hatred and death.
But from that darkness emerged humanity at its best–duty even in the face of danger as firefighters, police officers, hospital and other workers gave their best to save lives and help the injured; inexhaustible stores of kindness and generosity as strangers helped each other and people volunteered to give blood, to help with rescue efforts, to feed and sustain those who were working so hard to save and to heal and to comfort.
Halfway across the globe, Filipinos were mostly ending their day with dinner, prime time television perhaps, getting the kids to bed and getting ready to turn in. At first the news bulletins hardly made sense; what’s this about an airplane crashing into the World Trade Center? What a terrible accident! When, minutes later, a second airplane crashes into the other tower, the chilling realization that these were no accidents began to set in. Then comes news of the Pentagon crash and with those images of burning buildings on the television screen comes the realization that the world had changed irrevocably.
This issue is our tribute to those who died, to those who survived, to those who lost family and friend in the attacks, and to all those who–by thought, word or deed of courage, kindness and faith, in New York, Washington or elsewhere in the world, on the ground or in the air–proved and sustained, and continue to do so, the triumph of good over evil.