Editorial | 10/11

0 Comments | Philadelphia Inquirer, The, October, 2006

They were images that Americans hoped never to see replayed: smoke and flames belching from the side of a Manhattan high-rise, airplane fragments raining down on the sidewalk, passersby looking up in shock and fear. For a brief time, as those pictures flashed across television and computer screens Thursday afternoon, the chilling question ran through the thoughts of millions: Were we all going to be New Yorkers-in-spirit once again? That is, was this a 9/11-style terror attack, even if on small scale? So it was a substantial relief when, within an hour or so, authorities declared that the crash was a civilian aviation accident.

Yet that relief was mixed with a gnawing grief - at the loss of two lives, including former Phillies pitcher Cory Lidle. For the families of Lidle -...