A HIGH-SCHOOL STUDENT prays...

I FIRST heard about the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City on the radio, as I was leaving for a short field trip with other students in my high-school art class. The details of the explosions and panic were overwhelming, and by the time I reached the site of our class I was deeply shaken. As other students arrived, I told them what I had heard. A few of us had friends and relatives in Manhattan, and we were worried about them. So we tried to reach them on a cell phone. They were safe. And, more or less reassured, we began to work.

Through the morning, I tried to keep in mind God's love for all the people involved in this overwhelming event. I eventually stopped shaking. Every time I felt panic, or began growing agitated, I would tell myself that things were being taken care of, not only by the emergency personnel, but by God, whose control of every situation is complete and unceasing.

As we got ready to leave, however, the teacher, whose son worked in Times Square, ran by—yelling that the World Trade Center had collapsed. I was thrown back into my original feeling of panic, fear, and general hopelessness. On the drive back to school, the reports were even worse, telling of conditions I couldn't begin to comprehend.

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October 8, 2001
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