This is written as an email to friends and family that was selected and posted 
on the WashingtonPost.com on September 11th.

Our country experienced an earthquake of identity today, an earthquake that shook the souls of people 
all over our land. We watch, from different couches, different offices, and different hours, the chaos 
and trembling before us. We watch buildings crumble, faces scream, dust bury and we wonder how to respond, 
how to receive, how to understand-

What, as Americans, as children, as parents, as students, as victims, are we to do from this day forth? 
How do we rise and continue the day, how do we speak when comforting one who has lost, one who has crumbled inside, 
how do we sit in a classroom or sit in traffic and not be affected, not be outraged? How do we face the details, 
the trivial details that comprise routine, constitute a day and believe they are worth something? We do. We must. 
We are America, and we must not be indifferent.

And so we watch the news, we educate ourselves, become aware and then we spread that awareness. 
Whether that means sitting with our children around a table and asking them what they think, what they understand, 
and how they feelÖ. whether that means turning off the television and picking up the book you started a week ago, aloneÖ.
whether that means apologizing to someone wronged, or someone ignored.. Perhaps it means simply heading home, 
heading to bed and rising the next day to the same routine, yet with a dramatically changed perspective; 
it means being aware - truly aware that we cannot be still-

It means examining our own lives, our own efforts, our beliefs, our hours and how we define our days. 
It means doing our best at what tasks lay before us, no matter how unimportant they may mean in the scheme of things, 
no matter how unbearable and boring a class is, or a work-related task, or even the humbling job search. 
It means standing up for what you believe in, what you stand for, it means making yourself known to yourself. 
It means breaking bread with the one you disagree with, speaking face to face with the one you do not respect - 
it means casting aside difference, weakness, disbelief and disillusionment and digging for truth. These things are the largest 
and most incomprehensible, yet they are ridden with simplicity. Who are we? What does our country mean to us, what are we to do? 
How can we help? 

We can change the world by changing our hearts. By calming the anxiousness that lives for tomorrow rather than today. 
By overcoming differences in families, friendships, work relationships, classrooms. We must not be afraid, 
we must be ready to accept the challenges that come our way, we must be faithful to ourselves, to each other, and yes, 
our government. When disaster strikes, when tragedy interrupts the program, we cannot turn away. The world is a mess, 
the world is unforgiving, and the world will quake away before our own eyes. Therefore let us still believe in something 
larger than ourselves, let us have faith in what we cannot understandÖ let us bring this huge disaster into our small spaces 
and figure out how we can take the smallest steps to help our neighbour and country rise again one footprint at a time. 
Let us never forget each other and be present to what we must do. Each and every day, in small and amazing ways 
we can change this place, we can make a difference.      

Audrey Wood