George,

I am wondering how people are taking the recents events in Charlottesville.

People in New Jersey have been doing an excellent job in the effort to save lives. People from Pennsylvania and Delaware came to the New York area to help.

I could tell you much more but it would take forever.

Having been a New Yorker myself at one time, I know of the resilience, stamina and determination of those that live in the "capital of the world" as it is called from time to time. New Yorkers, and Americans in general are not (nor should they ever be) a group of people to be daunted by such an act.

Any who laud such an act or dance in the streets are a disgrace to the human race, even if they have been brain-washed by fundamentalist religious groups. People should know better, but they don't, I'm afraid to say.

I stand behind the actions that the federal government may take, being as this is a national emergency the scale of which has not yet been seen.

However, the situation was also quite strange, was it not? From the first moments that I heard information on the radio this morning I was bewildered by the facility with which this assault occured. We reportedly had unidentified terrorists hijack a plane with knives and boxcutters? Were the crew and passengers aboard those planes (who probably outnumbered them by at least 10:1) incapable of overpowering a handful of fundamentalist freaks (if that is the case) armed with ordinary household objects?

Why was nothing done after the crash of the first plane to prevent the second one from crashing? Radar operators across the region should have known that another rogue plane was heading for the towers. In fact, it seems that they did. Were authorities simply too lazy or altruistic?

And why was it so tactfully accomplished - in less than an hour? A large number of people in the US had to have known before the fact; otherwise it would have been impossible to execute. Such persons are traitors to the fundamental ideals of our democratic republic.

Are we doing exactly what these people want? Are we reacting exactly as they had planned? Are we playing into someone's hands? In attacking whomever, what in fact will be unleashed?

I hope only something that will benifit humanity.

The unfolding of events has been VERY bizzare.

In conclusion, help in any way you can. At the very least show support. In New Jersey all drivers kept their headlights on all day as a sign of solidarity. Those who had them flew flags at half-mast. Many are wearing patches of red cloth to indicate national mourning for hte victims. I know that the country has been divided, particularly since the election fiasco; however now is the time for solidarity as a nation. We as Americans have overcome much worse, and we shall overcome and be the better for it.

Just some thoughts that I thought you may want to have.

It's late and I'm tired. I hope that what I wrote made sense.

Caio y'all.

Joseph Cheek (electronic mail, September 11, 2001).