I have just returned from Las Vegas, NV where I was working for a customer at a trade show since last Friday. I was in my hotel room Monday morning 9-11 and watched the awful events in New York City and Washington DC live on CNN when I did my regular morning wake-up thing and flipped on the news at 6:00 AM Pacific Time. I walked over to the convention center early to check on the state of things and was there when the authorities came and asked everyone to leave so the place could be secured. My coworker and I thanked the officers for their diligence and went to the company suite where we spent the day watching events unfold with others from the company and also a French company called De La Ballina that shared the trade show booth with us.

Our French friends were just as appalled as we, and felt just as terrible. They wished us good luck warmly and also expressed their condolences for our country and the loss of so many of our fellow citizens and visitors to our country. As we watched together, the leaders and representatives of many countries expressed their shock, outrage, and solidarity with us. I couldn't help but think how good this was for America to see that all these countries and their people were standing with us at this time when we so needed it. Many times in our history America has stepped forward to help other countries in their time of need, sometimes to the great loss of our solders. I can't fully express how moved I am that so many countries and their people are stepping forward to express their feelings, help in the recovery of our dead and wounded, and to be counted on the side of civilization and against darkness.

Because all regular airline flights were grounded till Saturday, three of my coworkers and I opted to drive home from Las Vegas to Michigan (about 2,000 miles). We managed to rent a mini-van and left Wednesday evening at 6:30 and I am happy to say my friend Dale Sylvester and I returned this morning at about 4:00 AM after driving for 30 hours. Our other two friends Bill and Samantha Marquette drove on to York, PA (another 8 hours) with the van and they made it safely too. We all felt fortunate that we could share that drive across our great country. We ran into many others who were also driving cross-continental to return to their homes and nowhere did I speak to anyone that felt anything but great fortune to be able to return home in this way. It is truly wonderful to live in a country where such choices are available to us. At every stop people wished each other luck and God's Speed in their return home. Workers at stores and stations made sure we had coffee and told us they had never seen so many drivers with west coast license plates traveling east (or I am sure east coast plates traveling west). At no time did we encounter gas stations that were taking advantage of this situation and jacking their prices up. I realized that we were all doing what our country has always done: We were pulling together and doing what we needed to do to accomplish our goal in a time of great difficulty for our nation.

In Omaha, NE we passed the large air force base where SAC (Strategic Air Command) is located on Thursday about noon. There were a large number of very big Air Force jets (looked like Fuel and Cargo carriers) taking off and landing. The radio news reported that our President and his Secretary of State had been speaking to the leaders of many other nations that were committed to standing with us to combat the scourge of international terrorism. On my cel phone our families back home told us that many people they knew were being called back from retirement to active service, or the armed forces reserves. It seemed obvious that the USA was beginning to mobilize both our own resources and the support of our friends around the world. Working together I believe there is no way we can fail, but there will be difficult times ahead. As the Prime Minister of Israel said so eloquently, "This is a Day of Reckoning where all peoples are asked which side they stand on. Whether they stand with the forces of civilization, or the forces of darkness. There can be no neutrality in this."

Please do what you can to help the families and friends of victims of this tragedy and the members of our recovery agencies, armed forces, and our police agencies. They are all being tested sorely at this time and even a word of encouragement will mean so much to them. Also, please keep in mind that not all Muslims are responsible for this heinous action. Most Muslims are good people with values and beliefs that are just as peace loving and charitable as Christians, Jews, Sikhs, or other people who follow the book. Many American Muslims now must feel a heavy burden, for in most cases they are just fellow loyal Americans who are trying to live their lives and raise their children like we of other faiths. Unfortunately some will be harassed or worse for the manner of their dress, or the beliefs they hold true.

Most Americans are charitable people who are tolerant of the beliefs of others. If you encounter a fellow citizen, rightly outraged at these events but wrongly directing their feelings to all Muslims, please remind them that we should all do whatever we can to punish those evil people who are capable of these acts, or the countries that give them aid and comfort; but that the innocent are just that, whatever their color, creed, or religion.

Best Regards,

Gregory Brasic

Back on the farm