Words from Diana

By Diana Nyad, 9/14/2001

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People who lived through World War II say the bombing of Pearl Harbor changed them forever. And many of them compared this past Tuesday with that overwhelming loss of innocence. All the ideals so ingrained in us as Americans were shattered this week. That we are the safe harbor of the free world, where the oppressed can escape political terror. Now we have been made to feel unsafe. We have been terrorized.

The smoldering skyline of New York City, no longer punctuated by its two grand monoliths, left us speechless. I had to turn from the television whenever I saw the footage of men and women, some holding hands, jumping from the highest floors to their deaths. A sweet, young cameraman I have worked with for four years at Fox Sports Television was on American Flight #11 that left Boston en route to Los Angeles and crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Tom Pecorelli's widow will bear their first child in a few months. How can we react to such a heinous suicide mission? How can we find hope in the face of such numbing tragedy?

I began to find that hope in the words of British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the other world leaders. Mr. Blair said: "It is vitally important we stand together in defeating the terrorists. They have no sense of humanity, mercy, or justice". If the finest minds, the biggest hearts, of this world come together-if those of us who do live each day with humanity, mercy and justice unite, I believe we will find a way to defeat, to either outthink or outmuscle these hateful people.

The losses are unfathomable. But the world somehow brims with goodness. People are good. Most people. And goodness will prevail.

The Savvy Traveler is produced by Benjamin Adair, Jim Gates, John Hoult, Derry London, Kelly Markham, and Celeste Wesson. Jim Russell is the general manager of Marketplace Productions. And the executive producer of the Savvy Traveler is JJ Yore. I'm Diana Nyad. For Rudy, Tony, myself and all of us here at The Savvy Traveler, we offer tender thoughts of love for the victims of this horrific ordeal - for their families and their friends.

God bless America.