Friday, September 21, 2001

The Three R's: Rescue, relief, repair

It is said that sleep is restorative but for the city that never sleeps, there's been a flurry of activity to rebuild and rejuvenate physically and psychically from last week's atrocious attacks.

For the obvious reasons most every event scheduled for last week was either cancelled or postponed. This week, however, at the encouragement from Mayor Giuliani and President Bush, New Yorkers began resuming their lives by going back to work and getting out. Like a pebble tossed into a pond, so many ripples of effect are still reverberating from last Tuesday's nightmare. And one of those sad effects is the imminent closing of many Broadway productions. Again, Giuliani, with the interests of the city, its residents and visitors at heart, spoke passionately about the importance to try and resume our lives and go do things: go to the restaurants, attend theater and other cultural performances, visit the landmarks, go to the parks and stadiums. Live our lives. By doing this, we show the world and the terrorists that we are not and will not be ultimately defeated. And while we may feel defeated and deflated by what happened last Tuesday, Giuliani and Bush are correct and appropriate in their gentle prodding.

Silicon Alley rallied and almost every scheduled event this week (and a few new ones) added a benefit angle to them. Most every Web site for local (and national) businesses had mention of the terrorist attacks on September 11th, condolences to the victims' families and some demonstration of support with links to leading funds for donations.