From New York

[Rosina Lila]

My friends,
I thank you for the dozens of comforting messages which you have sent me
personally, and for all your offers to help.
As you probably know, there has been a great outpouring of volunteers, blood,
clothing and foodstuffs.  We are told that the volunteers which are urgently
needed are those in the mental health field, pointedly Spanish-speaking ones,
to offer some comfort to desolate friends and relatives.
It appears that about 700 of those unaccounted for were of Latin-American or
Spanish descent; some were employed in the many restaurants in the buildings,
but the  majority were young professionals starting out in their careers....
among them three recent college graduates former students of mine and a
professional colleague.
Of the seven firemen which our small fire-station on West 10th street lost,
three were  of Spanish descent.  The sidewalk in front of the firehouse is
covered with flowers,  candles and tearful neighbors standing a silent and
prayerful vigil, all through the night last night. .
Thousands....yes, thousands, of  homemade posters with pictures of missing
loved ones are pasted on the streets of our neighborhood which wears an
unaccustomed mantle of quiet and sadness.
And the pain mounts. The number of the missing keeps getting higher and our
pain at being unable to help increases..
In my many years practicing law I have known people who have been victimized
by accidental deaths in their family or by other serious losses.  Pursuing a
legal remedy appears to have afforded them a means of venting some of their
anguish, and the inevitable slow pace of our legal proceedings have allowed
them some time to heal.
Alas, I do not see even that small respite in this case.  To my knowledge,
most life insurance policies disclaim liability in case of losses due to war,
and our government  has publicly declared what happened to be an act of war.
I know that we will establish volunteer legal clinics to try to be of
assistance, but I cannot visualize meaningful avenues of redress or comfort.
This are the times that try a Christian soul.  Our priests and ministers
remind us that the act of hanging a cross from one's neck does not a
Christian make.  It is our bound obligation to seek to understand and to try
to forgive.    We are reminded that we have been counseled to "do unto others
as they would do unto you", and not to do unto others as they have done unto
you..... such sentiment of retribution and revenge is the antithesis of
Christian principles.  Should we visit death and destruction upon thousands
of helpless and hopeless people, as innocent of the politics of power of
those above them as were  our friends and neighbors who died on Tuesday
merely because they had gone to work?
Have we been indifferent for too long to the suffering of the untold
thousands all over the world through poverty and hunger? Have we been too
selfish and too greedy with our wealth?  Have we aided and abetted the
seemingly ongoing genocidal practices in the Holy Land for the sake of
protecting financial interests?  Do we have the strength to try to overcome
evil with love as Jesus taught us?
........Ah! .....the Cross is much too heavy when resting upon one's own
shoulders.
Please pray with me for patience, love,  understanding and good will, and for
some measure of comfort for our bereaved here and in Washington D.C.
         -Perhaps those of us New York City Santiago pilgrims can think,
together, of some way in which we can put  to use the hope and love of the
Camino right here in our wounded city. Shall we try?.
I embrace you all.
Rosina