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Beacon
Nine minutes before midnight, September 10, my only daughter ended her
seemingly interminable labor. With a surgeon's help, Janet Ann Lindeman
delivered a handsome girl-child, seven pounds and 14 ounces of dark-haired
innocence.
"A future runner, or volleyball star," announced the pediatrician, following
examination of a perfectly formed body, notable for two very long, now
busy, legs.
Before I could feast grandfatherly eyes upon this newest family member, her
world suddenly was rent by madness, savagery and evil beyond our
imagination.
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| Tower 2 burns in the foreground, as the second
hijacked plane banks in for the kill on Tower 1 (hidden behind tower
2 in this photo). |
Tuesday morning, September 11, gave us newsmen reason to recall the
brilliant cliché, "Day of Infamy..." Headlines spoke of thousands of victims
to terrorism in Washington, Pennsylvania, and under the rubble of the fallen
World Trade Towers
In New York, city of my birth, the news was all about death. A fifth-grade
child, Jack Asimov, pulled from his Public School 150 class not far from
Ground Zero, asked terrified parents, "How can people do something like
this?"
These very words fell from the lips of rational people around the world.
Then, in the days following the catastrophes, we again found reasons for
hope, for reassurance. To my eye, the legion of rescue workers (largely, and
sadly, a misnomer) began the turnaround. The courage and commitment of
resolute men and women, with dust on their faces but boasting souls of steel,
served as our beacon.
Their example reminds every American that, once threatened, the greatest
democracy in the history of civilization understands what is required: 1)
hard work, and 2) sacrifice.
"Every one of us feels frustrated, even helpless," my oldest friend, author W.
C. "Bill" Heinz, said, speaking by telephone from his mountaintop home in
Dorset, Vermont. Heinz had a brilliant 60-year career describing "success
and failure, life and death, and all the dire business of humanity" for
newspapers, magazines and in books. In the words of biographer Jeff
MacGregor, Bill Heinz sent home dispatches from World War II that
"compared to those of Ernie Pyle."
Now, my octogenarian friend and mentor, was saying: "We should all try to
do our jobs better. The plumber, electrician, writer, stockbroker --must work
as hard and as well as they know how."
In essence, set an example for one another and, of course, the world at large,
which is watching, uncertain how the United States is going to respond.
A word here to my youngest granddaughter, safe at home in Oak Park,
Illinois: "Little darling, your fine parents, Janet Lindeman and Greg A.
Domantay, have named you Geneva Adele Domantay. Both mother and dad
are inveterate runners, swimmers and bikers. Healthful living becomes your
first inheritance.
"Alas, your birth date proved less than optimal. However, allow this first day
to remind you, always, of two roads, open and beckoning: the first leads to
worthwhile deeds and self-sacrifice, a path trodden by a small army of latter-
day American heroes and heroines. A darker, crooked trail runs toward
fanaticism, and is exemplified by violence, inhumane acts and babble.
"Now, in the very hospital where you opened your eyes, your late
grandmother, Adele Lindeman, had her life extinguished at age 40, a tragedy
of incalculable dimension to our little family. Yet, your own mother (at the
time, she was just eight), built a new, and exemplary, life. Today, she's the
Lindeman lawyer/advocate.
"Your Uncle Paul, a Floridian, is an emergency room doctor, while Uncle
Les, who lives down the block, is a script-writer and booster of spirits.
Whenever your mood turns blue, phone Uncle Les. You'll feel better
following his thoughtful visit. We come next to your terrific dad, the record-
holding distance runner, teacher, coach and counselor. To know him is to
love him; ask any of his several hundred runner-students.
"All around Chicago, you spot white tee shirts with blue lettering: 'Run
Chicago'. That's pop's business. So, kiddo, when the going gets tough --and
it will-- look to the family. We are your support squad.
One final thought: trust in your nation, now under siege. Americans are a
moral and magnanimous people, striving to raise our children, and
grandchildren, as best we know how.
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Outrageous Associations
