In the aftermath, we all, in a way, are New Yorkers

To the editor:

I grew up in New York. I moved to Scott City last year. But I'm still a New Yorker. I'm not sure that that will ever be different for me.

I didn't even have to learn to love the fields and space and animals. My family are farmers in Hungary and Austria.

I had started to see myself as a Missourian. And then terrorists crashed into my towers, and my towers fell and took too many of us with them.

One thing about New Yorkers: We see everything in the city as ours.

None of us will ever fly into LaGuardia again without thinking about those towers. The towers were so close you felt you could almost touch them.

When I was riding motorcycles and coming back to the city, the sight of the towers meant home, much like the smell of bread baking in the village oven to medieval folks.

My hometown is forever different. My life is forever altered.

But here's the thing: When my husband and I drove to the Osage Centre in Cape Girar-deau Wednesday to give blood, we were sure it would be an in-and-out type of thing. And when we got to the parking lot, we saw so many cars. So many people giving. We weren't even allowed in there because we were both A+. They were only taking O+ and O-. They didn't have enough equipment to take all the blood that was being offered. And people were still coming.

This letter is to say from a New Yorker to all of you: Thank you. I am awed by your generosity.

JFK said, "Ich bin ein Berliner." I'm clear that we are all, right now, New Yorkers.KATHY SZEDENIK

PENDERGRASS

Scott City, Mo.