16 September 2001
Pete Grubbs is a
self-described OS/2
wonk, a former doctoral
candidate in English
literature at Indiana
University of
Pennsylvania, a former
part-time faculty
member at Penn State
and is still mucking
about with a copy
editing/creation service, The Document
Doctor, which tailors documents for small
businesses. He has also been a
professional musician for 20 years.
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A Call to the OS/2 Community
There are times when words are wholly inadequate. This is one of those times. The devastation that the world witnessed
today, September 11, 2001, is unlike any in modern history. A country at peace was savagely attacked by a faceless
enemy; civilians whose only crime was the accident of their native birth were brutally murdered while their stunned
families, friends and fellow countrymen could do nothing more than watch in shocked disbelief and outrage. As Senior
Editor of OS/2 eZine, I know, in my head, that our publication, with its narrow focus on all things Warped and its
international readership, is not the medium of choice for disseminating news and opinion about this travesty, but, in my
heart, as both a member of the OS/2 community and an American, I cannot help but speak out. As I write this, I cannot
say if our community has lost anyone, but I fear we may have. Regardless, I do know that we have, all of us, American
or no, lost our old world and been thrust into a new and forbidding world. It is a world where a most twisted sort of
rationality reigns; where there is no shred of respect for the sanctity of human life; where the murder of thousands of men and women is a cause for careful preparation and later celebration.
My dear friends, this must not be.
We OS/2 users have often been maligned as zealots, cranks, crackpots and worse but through our travails, we have forged a community with a spirit that rises far above these petty affairs. We take care of our own in a fellowship which embraces members in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Western Europe, Russia and Singapore (and those are just the countries from which this editor has received correspondence.) We are, indeed, an international community and we can, each of us in a small way, respond to this attack; this heinous, cowardly act which is, finally, not just against the World Trade Centers or the city or state of New York, or even the United States of America, but against the whole of humanity. The amount of damage to the telecommunications and IT infrastructure which were housed in the basement levels of the WTC is, tonight, not known and may take many days to assess, but it will have to be repaired, and quickly, to minimize the damage to the American economy. Many of you who read this publication have skills which could help with those repairs. If you can, offer your help when that time comes. Even if you never step foot on site, such an offer, made in good faith, will bolster the spirits of those who are at ground zero. For those of our readers who are Americans, show by both your words and your actions that our fellow countrymen of the Islamic faith are indeed our countrymen and have no connection to the madmen who attacked us today. Embrace them; stand with them; our loss in this is truly their loss as well. We are, after all, Americans together. Finally, I would ask all of our readers around the world to please join me in setting a lighted candle in your window and offering such prayers as you see fit to remember the fallen and the loved ones who mourn them. Let us answer those who create darkness and destruction with light, compassion and hope.
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