By Terrie Albano

People's Weekly World

On Monday I was struggling over how to write an article about the great Jobs with Justice conference held over the weekend in Cleveland. On Tuesday it didn't seem to matter.

The first I heard from my new Chicago home was a radio report of a "fire" at the World Trade Center. The rest is awful history.

Shock and horror. My whole family is going through something akin to survivor's guilt, we all feel that we should be in New York. After all, we were there less than two months ago. We haven't gotten to that angry stage yet - the one the media and Bush are pushing. I know others have. But for me and my kids intense sadness and disbelief still rule the day.

I had to call all of our friends in NYC. Everyone is okay, but everyone has a story. My friend Marie described the fear and panic that gripped her when she couldn't get in touch with her teenage daughter, whose high school is near the United Nations.

"At that point, I didn't know if there was going to be another attack and I thought the U.N. could be a target," she said. Eventually they were reunited.

"If this has shown anything," Marie said, "it's that life is precious and no more blood should be spilled."

Many, many voices have raised similar sentiments and that's very heartening, although it's not the dominant trend in the media.

"I'm very disturbed by the racist reaction I have been hearing," my sister-in-law told me from Cleveland. "You would think that this horror would make people think enough is enough."

My 6-year-old nephew told his mom that all his classmates were talking about war. "Doesn't that mean that more people will die?" he asked her.

My own 9-year-old son is grappling with revenge feelings. At first he got swept up in bombing whoever, but now he has moderated his reaction. "I want the people who did this to be caught, but I don't think we should bomb anyone," he said.

Mourning, grief, sorrow and anger are all natural human reactions. But what's not natural, or shouldn't be considered natural, is the endless killing and hatred. It will take a lot of patience and persistence and courage to stay the course of peace and justice. It's one of history's challenges.