Coming to Grips with Terrorism, September 14, 2001

Three days after terrorist hijacked four commercial airliners, people gathered in Pioneer Square in downtown Portland.

Large sheets of butcher paper were laid out...	...to write messages to the people in New York.	Messages ranged from encouraging words...	talk of vengeance from above...
calls for peace and restraint...	foreign sentiment...	illustrations of emotion...	Biblical passages...
and jingoism.		This man consults the Good Book for his message...	...while this one has to pause a moment before continuing.
I watched this woman...	...sketch this. The quote from the Bible says, "Though a mother forsake her child, he will not abandon you."	This man spent a great deal of time writing his message...	...which ended strongly.
I wandered around most of the time watching people's reactions.	Red, white and blue was evident throughout the crowd.	The Meier and Frank building had a monstrous flag draped down the side. At one point, everyone turned to salute it as we sang the Star-Spangled Banner.
I noticed alot of self-hugging.			This girl became so overcome with emotion that she left the Square immediately after this.
The media arrived to cover the event but couldn't help become absorbed by the tableau.	This woman exploited the situation to gather signatures.	This man also had an agenda.	This homeless man was oblivious to the whole crowd as he salvaged bottles and cans from the garbage.
Some people in the center of the square joined hands to pray.	A spontaneous shrine has been erected by the fountain in the square.	People leave flowers, candles and pictures.

At 12:30 we observed a moment of silence which ended when we struck up a rendition of "God Bless America" followed by "The Star Spangled Banner." It was one of the most moving events of my life.