Students respond to September 11 tragedy One couldn't travel far without noticing that American flags of all sizes / were everywhere-flying at half-mast, hanging in windows across campus, dancing in the wind atop the radio antennae of nearly every vehicle that drove through the streets around Harding. After the sun set on Sept. 11, 2001, allowing one of the bloodiest days in America's brief life to fade into the annals of history, the nation began its healing process and its march to avenge terrorism. "There was just such a great response of patriotism by the student body," President David Burks said. "It was just wonderful ... like nothing I've ever seen in my life." Burks said theAmerican flag that draped the back wall of the Benson Auditorium stage gave the entire campus something to focus its emotions upon during the first few weeks after the tragedy. Sept. 12 saw the first of several chapel services honoring the victims of the attacks. But the students didn't wait until the days following the attacks to begin the first of many service projects organized to aid an ailing nation, Burks said. According to the Red Cross, a blood drive sponsored by King's Men and OEGE social clubs garnered more than 70 usable pints of blood the day of the attack. In addition, several groups of concerned students and faculty reacted quickly by traveling to the newlytermed "Ground Zero," near the base of the twin towers, to distribute muchneeded items to emergency workers. Dr. Jack Shock, associate professor of communication, volunteered nearly two weeks at Ground Zero assisting the Red Cross with public affairs. In October, senior Chad Mims traveled to New York City with his father, Bob, and brother, Clay, to witness the destruction in person. Before he left, Mims enlisted the help of fellow Hardingstudentstofill 12 notebooks with wordsofencouragement to emergency workers searching tirelessly for remains. "I couldn't appreciate what those workers were c?.oing until I saw what had happened," Mims said. "I had watched it on television so much... that when I flew over the actual site I remember it being the first time I really grasped the devastation." Mims said he took the notebooks to workers at firehouses and Red Cross emergency shelters across New York City. "I got to meet some of them and shaketheirhands,"hesaid. "NewYork City was amazingly quiet. .. yet everyone had a story to tell." Burks said the student body's reaction to the attacks, at home and elsewhere, proved its resilience in times of great hardship. "The only thing that's ever come close to this is the GulfWar, butit'snot the same kind of threat," Burks said. "This is a threat to all nations and, since Harding represents a number of different countries, I think it's given us all a unique perspective." -Chad Lawson Senior Chad Mims talks with members of the New York Police Department at one of the Red Cross Relief Centers located at Ground Zero. Mims distributed notebooks filled with words of encouragement written by Harding students to workers at the relief centers and fire houses near the site. Father Brian Jordan and a group of rescue and construction workers gather for a moment of prayer around a cross of steel beams found amidst the rubble of the World Trade Center. The events of Sept. 11 caused many Americans to reevaluate their faith and the power of prayer. September 11, 2001 275
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