We reacted according to our personal circumstances. For my own part, my thoughts flew to friends in New York with concern for their safety. One Tintota friend was resident in the proximity. An e-mail was hastily dispatched and, thankfully, an answer came back, she was safe, but not the city she loved. It was a month later that I heard from my old school friend. I knew she should be safe, providing that she had not chosen to visit the towers that morning. As it transpired, she had written to me on the day following the disaster but postal services were, understandably, delayed.

She mentioned the feeling of numbness and disorientation she had felt when a friend phoned, telling her to switch on her tv. I, in far away Australia, had been passing our radio and was attracted by a voice crying out in shocked horror as folk were throwing themselves from windows. Curious, I paused. American voices alerted me to the fact that this was not an Australian accident. I reached for the tv switch and, just like my friend Jose, I saw the unimaginable.

Later, I walked out into the sunlight and peace. Birds were singing, parrots screaming joyfully as they fed from the blossoms in the tree tops, wallabies were still eating the pellets I had given them only a short time ago to assist them survive the drought conditions of the past months. That was the time before I had been alerted by screams from another land, signifying the dire warning that once again evil had touched us all. Our world, regardless of which country we called home, was irrevocably changed as those towers disintegrated.

Time has now passed and we have fallen into the new pattern of life, different for each one of us, that has been forged for us by circumstance. I think back to the time when I sat here writing the article for Tintota I entitled, Aftermath. At the time, I was concerned that after the razzmatazz of the occasion, we might slip back into the daily routine and become mindless of the significance of the event we had celebrated so delightfully throughout our world. A change I did anticipate, but a change of such proportion as hit us all on September 11th, was not within my vision.

In that article I spoke of the opportunity afforded us of shedding useless baggage we carried with us from the past. I spoke of ways we might consider to help us shed old thought and behavioral patterns that were outmoded and hampered our progress as we processed into the new era of the 21st century.

I have been pondering on all these happenings.

I envisaged walking along a beach. Ahead, the long stretch of pure white sand appeared to stretch forever forward, until it blended, indistinguishable from the waters of the ocean. As I walked, I felt the sand grains gritty between my toes and thought of the incalculable numbers of grains that lay in tight harmony, forming this pleasurable pathway I trod.

Such a storm has hit our world.

We are not as the grains of sand that lie exposed to the vagaries of the elements. As persons, we have intelligent minds to use intelligently, and other qualities besides. We have choice as to how we organize ourselves. Our personal in-built power is greater than many of us realize. Some of us, perhaps through ignorance, lack of know-how, laziness or disinterest, fail to make use of our power to assist ourselves. Now is the time for us all to use the powers with which we have been blessed. Should you not know how to do this then here is the wake-up call to action. Seek out help. The bookshelves of stores and libraries are awash with self-help books. Like the knights of old, who donned their armor to confront the foe, we too must rally, with our personal power at the ready to defend the freedom that we all so cherish.

We face a crisis. Everyone of us has to face this. It is our responsibility if we value the freedom of lifestyle we presently enjoy. Remember, it has taken generations of dedicated people to build it, many of them laying down their own lives. Mindful of this, we must look to our own personal power. It must be inspected as did the brave knights when they took up their armor before setting forth to do battle with the foe.

Has rust appeared on your armor? Is it out dated and requires a refit? See to it. Get down to the ‘spit and polish’. Examine it for tiny pinholes that may have escaped your notice, because this time you will not meet your foe head on with lances at the ready. He is no valiant knight, but the ‘thief in the night’ who deals in treacherous exploits. He is no knight of old who upholds the rules of chivalry. He is one who deals in evil deeds alone and tries to cloak them with religious intent.

What is the future? That depends upon the choices each one of us makes. It is as simple as that. For a peaceful outcome, we must be true to ourselves. Peace has to be created. It is a positive state. If your room is chaotic after throwing a party, it will require active effort to set it to rights so that you can sit down to enjoy the peace you have restored.

Peace is what we all desire, but we have to attain it through personal effort. Think how civilization has been developed. Mankind had to learn that disruption of his own making was uncomfortable, even dangerous. It took long years of conflict to establish civilization as we know it, where we can enjoy freedom of thought and action under the law.

Just as we began to believe that we were making good headway, we became careless with our vigilance. A new method of attack was delivered from the skies. Warfare lost its final vestige of chivalry.

Or did it? This dark enemy had made a grave misjudgment. Civilization has progressed. Condolences and offers of support flooded in to the stricken nation from all corners of the earth. Nations of goodwill, some once termed ‘enemy’, came forward in friendship. A new link has been forged in the armor of the civilized nations. Friendship is our link, our common desire is Freedom in Peace.