Yesterday was the 11^th anniversary of 9/11. I heard Rudy Giuliani last night on CNN’ s Anderson Cooper’s 360 show. Giuliani, who was mayor of New York City that day, called it the “worst day and the best day.”  The worst is obvious.  But the best part—if we can permit ourselves to look for any silver lining at all—is all the stories of people living up to their Better Angels, in New York and elsewhere. One such story was what happened on 9/11/2001 in Gander, Newfoundland, Canada.

Rather than explain the event in detail, I will place some links here—others have reported on it better than I can.  Briefly, when the order went out that day to clear the American air space, flights en route to the U.S. were turned back or ordered to land at the first opportunity.  Many transatlantic flights were directed to land as soon as possible in Canada.  For 38 airplanes and its some 6,700 passengers, a little community called Gander became the host to an instant crowd.  People exited the planes with the clothes on their back. They had no food, medication or shelter—indeed—since they had no access to media, most were not even aware of why they were landing outside the U.S.

The people of Gander provided a miracle. They opened their homes, churches, schools and businesses. They housed, fed and cared for thousands of unannounced guests for 3 -5 days.  Correction: make that frightened and bewildered guests. Citizens from many countries were honorary Canadians that week. That tiny airport landed 38 planes safely and expertly. They set up phone banks so that passengers could make comfort calls to assure loved ones they were safe. And they didn’t charge anyone a dime for it. Here are some great links to read about it:

• From the Gander airport website.
• On the famous myth-busting website, snopes.com, the story is summarized, and they have a few grateful sentiments captured from the passengers.
• Prefer seeing a video of the event?  Tom Brokaw narrates the one here.

Remembering 9/11 is always tough. The profound sadness began with the crash into the first tower. Many of us thought it a tragic accident. When the second plane hit, it was clear it was no accident--then add revulsion to the sadness.  Still, one has to keep perspective. There were 19 hijackers.  But there were 10,000 residents of Gander, Newfoundland.  There is much more good in the world than evil. Incidentally, for anyone who has to explain 9/11, terrorism or war to children, Purdue University’s “Purple Wagon” has some great resources.

Note: Photo provided by Waferboard on Flickr