A Book Review

My mom recommended this book to me a year or so ago.  It is unusual for Mom to do this so when she did, I bought the book and put it in my stack of To Reads.



I finished it last night and wanted to bring it to your attention.



Everyone remembers where they were on September 11, 2001.  That is one of my generation's defining moments.   Most of us spent the day in front of televisions or the Internet watching the replays of the Towers and Pentagon being hit and the Towers subsequently falling.  We remember the images of President George W. Bush being interrupted as he was reading to a group of school children in Florida.  You could see his face change as an aide whispered in his ear what was happening, him processing and deciding how to handle this.  We saw survivors making their way down Manhattan streets choked with smoke and ash; first responders trying to lead them to safety as their brothers in arms ran into the burning buildings. 



We cried.



United States airspace was almost immediately closed to all traffic.  All planes in the air had to land at the closest viable airport.  For 38 planes on their way from various European locations Gander, Newfoundland was that spot.



In all honesty, I had never really thought about the planes that were on their way but not yet in US airspace.  But for the folks of Gander, it was a very big deal.



The population of Gander at the time was less than 10,000 and those 38 transatlantic jets brought in 7,000 more folks.  Folks for which there was no room.



This book is small, only about 250 pages, but it is filled with stories of what Gander and a few other surrounding towns did for these "Plane People", as they called them.  Shelters sprung up in churches and lodges and schools.  Locals took people into their homes to allow them to shower or find a quiet, peaceful place to rest a bit.  Volunteers set up phone banks and food banks.  Stores opened their doors to whatever the folks needed (the passengers, when they finally were able to deplane - late that Tuesday night or sometime on Wednesday - could only have whatever luggage they carried on with them, no checked bags.)   Pharmacies began trying to find needed medications and gathering toiletries and such from their stocks.  A vet and vet techs volunteered to care for the animals aboard the planes at no cost to any of the passengers (Canadian regulations prohibited the animals leaving the airport).



As you go through the pages, you see such a glimmer of humanity that is so very hard to find these days.  No, not a glimmer but a shining beacon.  A beacon that I wish we could see more often.



It was 126 hours from the first plane landing until the last plane left on the Sunday after the tragedy and during that time "families" were formed.  Lasting friendships.  Amid such devastation came such caring for strangers.



It isn't the only story I know where homes and businesses were open to those in need.  Billy and I were on vacation when Hurricane Katrina hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast and New Orleans.  As people evacuated, and more so after the storm and there were no longer places for them to live, Natchez, a town of less than 18,000, became a haven much like Gander.  Shelters sprung up in churches and lodges.  Friends and coworkers of mine opened their homes to those needing a place to sleep.  The Red Cross showed up with basic supplies for the displaced.  Radio stations held drives for toiletries to make hygiene bags for those in the shelters.  So, while I wasn't there for the initial influx of folks, I saw the aftermath of good people helping others every single day.



Maybe it is just how small towns react to adversity.



Unlike Gander, many of the people that came to Natchez stayed for a while.  They had lost their homes and businesses and had no real reason to return.  They gave back to the community that had taken them in by opening new retail stores, restaurants, or doctor's offices.  Katrina had given them a fresh start.  Everyone that had been detoured in Gander left, but many of them returned the kindnesses they had been shown.  Some passengers were involved with a charitable foundation and donated grant monies for the school district to purchase new computer equipment and donations to local charities and churches.   The passengers of one plane passed the hat as they were finally able to leave and continue their journey to Atlanta and collected over $15,000.



At a time when the world was facing pure Evil, unsure of the who, what or why, Gander showed that there was a place that Evil had not yet reached. 



Reading it made my heart smile.



(Now, if you look at the Amazon reviews you will see a several that kind of bash on the author a bit.  They could dissuade you from trying the book.  True, I also found typos and questionable uses of grammar but to focus on that is to truly miss the message of the book.  Did the author need a better proofer, absolutely, but that shouldn't factor into the decision to check it out.)