It arrived just in the nick of time. I had been on the waiting list for months and on a morning when my spirits were teetering on the edge of really, really sad and despair it showed up in my inbox.. Over the last years I have added audiobooks to my reading regime. I know some people don’t think of this as actually ‘reading’ but it works for me. Along with the words my eyes take in of both fiction and nonfiction, I have added words whose impact come to me through the voices of people I cannot see but who read to me just as I was once read to by my mother. These books mostly accompany me on the walks that continue to bring sanity and, hopefully, health to my life. 

The book that arrived was The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland by Jim Defede. Truth be told, I think I had actually read the book before not long after its release. Another reason for audiobooks is that you get to hear what you read before in new ways. This book recounts the stories of so many people who were diverted to this small town, Gander, in a part of the world most of us know nothing about, Newfoundland.  I don’t really know how the author collected the stories but he manages to weave the variety of characters that may have been on any random plane coming from various places across the Atlantic when the Twin Towers and Pentagon were attacked. As air space was shut down, these people, thinking they were on a trip that was perhaps exciting or boring or exhausting, suddenly found themselves on the ground in a place many had never heard of unable to make their way to the destination they had planned. At the beginning they had no idea why they were where they were or what had happened to create the situation. 

What follows are stories of such unbridled hospitality and kindness it simply makes a person weep. As word got out that the people were stranded, the people of Gander mobilized to provide housing, meals, transportation, entertainment, even friendship to complete strangers. People gave freely of their time, their resources and their homes. The newly arrived were invited into people’s houses to shower and do laundry. Since their luggage was still on the planes and they could not access it, folks were given clothes or driven to places to buy new ones. Underwear seemed to be the main concern. Pharmacists rallied to find what prescriptions were needed and made contact with physicians in the States who could confirm medications. Animals…did anyone think about the animals on those planes?…were rescued from the bellies of the planes and cared for, soothed, seen and loved by people who might never meet their owners.

This book, these stories, came at the right moment when my heart was breaking for what is happening in our community and our country. As the political parties throw poison darts at one another it seems many have forgotten what the purpose of politics and government is really for. This system, this body has the work of creating a living space for all people. All. This is difficult and sometimes painful work. But when it works, when it really works, we get a glimpse of what humanity in its best form looks like. That’s what happened for six days in the tiny town of Gander. People reached out and treated complete strangers as they would hope to be treated in the same situation. Someone much greater than me said this and implored us to live our lives doing as the people of this town no one had heard of did.

Many times while my feet were hitting the pavement, earbuds firmly inserted,  and  I was being washed in the beauty of these stories, my eyes filled with tears. The tears were for those who behaved with love and kindness and for the many ways I have witnessed the failings of this over the last weeks.

As I came to the end of the book and heard of how those who came to town went home forever changed, I was struck with the name of where the planes had landed. Newfoundland. New. Found. Land. I wondered if those whose lives had been changed, both the guests and the hosts, still carry at least a glimmer of those days. Do they think of those they met and those they served and wonder why it can’t be more like that more often?

Then I was reminded that the poet Judy Chicago said it much better than I ever could:

And then all that has divided us will merge
And then compassion will be wedded to power
And then softness will come to a world that is harsh and unkind
And then both men and women will be gentle
And then both women and men will be strong
And then no person will be subject to another’s will
And then all will be rich and free and varied
And then the greed of some will give way to the needs of many
And then all will share equally in the Earth’s abundance
And then all will care for the sick and the weak and the old
And then all will nourish the young
And then all will cherish life’s creatures
And then all will live in harmony with each other and the Earth
And then everywhere will be called Eden once again. 

As the days tick away toward this election, may there be just an ounce of what happened in Gander as people cast their votes. Perhaps then we might all be in a New Found Land. 

**This book was the inspiration for the amazing Broadway musical Come From Away.