Mike Pappas

911 Thoughts, by Mike Pappas:

Mike Pappas and my sister, Maura Cain, both volunteered at Ground Zero in 2001 and became friends. My son, born on September 11th, was reluctant to celebrate his 18th birthday in 2003. On Thursday, September 18, 2003, I recieved a beautiful and inspirational email from Mike Pappas. Mike has very generously given me permission to print his message. I hope the victims of Hurricane Katrina and other natural disasters can benefit and be inspired also by his words on rebuilding:

Deb, My name is Mike Pappas, Maura’s friend from the NYCPD. I read the part of your letter regarding [your son] not wanting to celebrate his birthday because it falls on September 11. Please tell him that that is not the right thing to do. We over here in NYC have done our best to return things to normal. The site was cleaned up in less than one year, all subway service was restored in less than one year also. We are talking about massive damage to our infrastucture. Electricity and phone lines were completely restored in record times. Believe it or not, the residential vacancy rate in the area is lower now than pre 9/11.

The framework for 5 World Trade Center is going up, and plans are being finalized for the rest of the site. The terrorists goal is to disrupt our way of life. Whether it means destroying persons and infrastructure or one’s peace of mind and sense of security. I witnessed this first hand, seeing the carnage and destruction. I had many friends perish that day. They would not want me or anybody else to cower in fear or be ashamed of that day. It was a day that Americans rose up to great levels and rescued over 30,000 people. Don’t let them take that away from us. Every little thing that we hold close they want to take from us. Tell [your son] to hold onto the celebration of his birthday, and be strong and proud in the face of this enemy. That is the only way to defeat evil. I hope this helps,

Mike Pappas
18 September 2003