NOT IN OUR SON'S NAME

Not In Our Son's Name!
M.S. · 09/17/01 at 6:24 PM ET

Phyllis and Orlando Rodriguez's son Greg is one of the
Trade Center victims. They have asked that people share these letters as widely as possible.

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Copy of letter sent to NY Times:

Not in Our Son's Name

Our son Greg is among the many missing from the World
Trade Center attack. Since we first heard the news, we
have shared moments of grief, comfort, hope, despair,
fond memories with his wife, the two families, our
friends and neighbors, his loving colleagues at Cantor
Fitzgerald / ESpeed, and all the grieving families
that daily meet at the Pierre Hotel.

We see our hurt and anger reflected among everybody we
meet. We cannot pay attention to the daily flow of
news about this disaster. But we read enough of the
news to sense that our government is heading in the
direction of violent revenge, with the prospect of
sons, daughters, parents, friends in distant lands
dying, suffering, and nursing further grievances
against us. It is not the way to go. It will not
avenge our son's death. Not in our son's name.

Our son died a victim of an inhuman ideology. Our
actions should not serve the same purpose. Let us
grieve. Let us reflect and pray. Let us think about a
rational response that brings real peace and justice
to our world. But let us not as a nation add to the
inhumanity of our times.

Copy of letter to White House:

Dear President Bush:

Our son is one of the victims of Tuesday's attack on
the World Trade Center. We read about your response in
the last few days and about the resolutions from both
Houses, giving you undefined power to respond to the
terror attacks.

Your response to this attack does not make us feel
better about our son's death. It makes us feel worse.
It makes us feel that our government is using our
son's memory as a justification to cause suffering for
other sons and parents in other lands.

It is not the first time that a person in your
position has been given unlimited power and came to
regret it. This is not the time for empty gestures to
make us feel better. It is not the time to act like
bullies. We urge you to think about how our
governement can develop peaceful, rational solutions
to terrorism, solutions that do not sink us to the
inhuman level of terrorists.

Sincerely,

Phyllis and Orlando Rodriguez

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Replies:

Re:NOT IN OUR SON'S NAME, by Lindsay Smith, 10/06/01

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