OT: many thanks to all

["Cook, Jenise" <jenise -dot- cook-crabbe -at- pacificlife -dot- com>]

Dear International Friends:

Thank you so much for your very kind words of condolence. I cannot express
how important, reassuring, and comforting it is to read your words of
sympathy and support. It truly helps ease the burden a little while we
grieve. Not only American citizens died in the collapse of the World Trade
Center towers yesterday. Citizens of many nations who had companies in the
towers lost their lives. Moms and dads. Aunts and uncles. Sisters and
brothers. We, as a world, greive together.

Although I'm on the west coast of the U.S., the tragedies on our east coast
affected all of us just as deeply as if our western shores had been
attacked. (Indeed, the west coast was on high alert believing L.A. and San
Francisco would be the next target.) Yesterday, my employer gave us all the
option to go home. No one could concentrate on work. My husband was sent
home because the office building where he works is across the street from a
commercial airport, and all high-rise buildings were evacuated.

Everyone on the west coast knows at least one person who lives/works in NYC.
We still hold our breaths for words of hope. Some have come, and in some
cases hope is lost.

My husband's aunt and uncle work in Manhattan. We felt a knot in our
stomachs all day. Thankfully, around 6:00 pm our time, we got a call from
them and all are safe. But, they're worried about their daughter. At their
daughter's school there are many children whose parents work at the World
Trade Center. I broke down and cried thinking of the children and young
people who have lost a mom, a dad, or both.

My neighbor is a Qantas Airlines Reservations manager at LAX. One of her
former employees left to become a flight attendant for United Airlines. Yes,
she was a flight attendant on one of the hijacked planes.

When I awoke this morning, my first thought was: "Oh, let it have been a
terrible, terrible nightmare." It wasn't. However, I felt a surge of resolve
when I realized I could contribute during this tragedy. Due to anemia, I
cannot donate blood. Yet, I could get in my car and drive to work this
morning as one person's effort to show terrorists that they cannot shut down
commerce forever.

Thank you, TECHWR-L community. Today, I love you more than yesterday. May we
all live long and prosper, and eliminate terrorism forever.

With prayers,

Jenise Cook-Crabbe
Senior Technical Writer
Pacific Life Insurance Company
www.PacificLife.com
jcook -at- pacificlife -dot- com
<<My opinions are only my own;
not my employer's>>


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