Report to the People
Terrorist Attacks on the USA
The scale of last week’s appalling atrocities in America is so great as to be near incomprehensible.
50,000 office workers; 107 floors; 4 jet planes; 266 passengers; 11,000 body bags. The numbers are so high, the devastation so complete, that the full horror of what happened is still sinking in.
I was sitting at my desk in Parliament as the first reports began to reach us. As events unfolded, MSPs and Parliament staff gathered round television screens, watching acts of low-tech primitive terrorism, beamed to us live by 21st Century digital satellite technology.
Perhaps because we have watched such scenes played out in Hollywood blockbusters, or perhaps because we have never witnessed such scenes in real life, the feeling was one of numb disbelief.
These events have cast a long shadow throughout the world. Flags are at half mast and people are pausing during their daily business to remember the victims and their families.
As a mark of respect, the Scottish Parliament replaced its business on Wednesday with a motion of condolence - sending from the whole chamber a strong message of support to all those affected by the tragedy. The sombre, dignified mood continued into Thursday, where we passed – in an appropriate coincidence – the final stages of the International Criminal Court Bill.
But now, as the silent film of the impact is replaced with real, human stories, the numbness goes.
We can relate to the office workers’ families with no idea where their husbands, wives or parents are; the emergency service workers who gave their lives to help others live; and those who received phone calls from loved ones saying goodbye.
But, as we learn of these sad stories, we learn too of great examples of human nature. We read reports that local doctor, Walter Hannay, visiting his son in New York, immediately made himself available at the Emergency Room of the local hospital.
We also saw supposedly hard-nosed New Yorkers spontaneously queuing up in the street to give blood; computer executives setting up their laptops in local cafes to help worried families post photographs of the missing on the Internet; and local residents offering those made homeless a place to stay.
In times of adversity the true human spirit always shines through. And it is this humanity and compassion which sets us apart from those who are able to commit acts of terror on this horrific scale.
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