reflections pg6

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After watching television all day on that Tuesday, I made the hour drive home. The reality of what happened off the TV came to me when I saw a motorized construction sign flashing: “NYC closed to all inbound traffic.”

Cathy Pentosuglia
Graduate student
Utica, New York

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I’ve shed a lifetime’s worth of tears in one week for people I don’t even know. While I’m sure SU alumni were killed at the hands of evil on September 11, I’m certain that more will be involved in the fight against such acts. While we must thank and praise firefighters and rescue personnel now, please remember university members in the military who will be fighting tomorrow. I was in the enlisted army reserves while I attended school and enjoyed the amazing support of the faculty when I was called to duty. I pray that the student-soldiers currently among you will receive the same support for the missions they are about to undertake. Their jobs will have just begun after rescue and recovery ends.

Edward A. MacKenzie ’94
Tamarac, Florida

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When so many innocent lives have been lost, as we have all just seen, there is no political, economic, or ethical argument that can in any way decrease the absolute evil in committing such an atrocity.

Michael Hession ’05
DeWitt, New York

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I have been through the emotional process of searching for my father (who made it out), my friends, and co-workers who all worked in or around the World Trade Center. I feel older now. I feel like I have lost that piece of me that allows me to be innocent in nature. But I have to remind myself and promise myself that this emptiness and anger can only last a short while in my heart. I owe it to those who lost their lives in these attacks to live out my life the best way I can. We all owe this to America’s future generations.

Patricia E. Potts ’96
Middletown, New Jersey

Doug MacGregor ’79 Reprinted by permission of the Fort Myers News-Press

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It’s a shame that this world has come to such cruelty—killing thousands of innocent people and leaving their families and loved ones to grieve.

Talia M. Parkinson ’00
New York, New York

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I pray for those who have lost loved ones, those whose loved ones are missing, and those who may not have directly lost someone, but who mourn for the loss of innocent lives, for our sense of security, for our freedom, and for our country.

Christine King ’04
Batavia, New York