by Judith Whitehead

Created on: February 21, 2009

Tragedy Too Close to Home

We live in the small town, on the edge, of Clarence, New York where our very being has

been rocked this week. We had the unfortunate experience of hearing the loud explosion

followed by several sirens and rescue vehicles rushing to the site of the Continental flight

3407 that came down in the wonderful neighborhood of Clarence during the night.

Clarence is a small, friendly town where everyone knows everyone; we have made it a

ritual of eating Saturday morning breakfast at Mardees Restaurant which happens to be a

few houses away from the crash site. The same crowd is always eating at this locally

owned diner every weekend, and we cherish this little treasure in Clarence where we can

shout to the cook, as she prepares our food in the morning. To have such a tragedy

happen so close to our home has put things in a different perspective.

We so take for granted getting up in the morning, doing our rituals of preparing for our

work day, and wishing our loved ones a good day. We assume that we will see them at

the end of each day to repeat our rituals again. We look forward to the weekends for

relaxation time and spending time with our loved ones and friends.

This tragedy has made us realize that fate can change our destiny so greatly; we cannot

just assume that tomorrow will always come. We spend so much of our lives looking

forward to what tomorrow may bring, wasting time on just living for the day at hand and

living each day fully.

I am filled with such sadness for those 50 people who were happily returning to their

families and homes, who never gave a fleeting thought that they would never make it

home. There were people from all walks of life on that flight; all traveling for a different

purpose and never imagining that such a tragic end to their lives was about to happen.

Our little quiet neighborhood has been turned into a crime scene filled with investigators

and CSI agents trying to sift through what has been left behind from this horrific site;

trying to make some sense of why this happened. My only wish for the people on that

flight was that they passed away instantly on impact and did not have to suffer.

Life as we know it will never be the same for the town of Clarence; people will pass the

crash site and pay their respects, place flowers and remembrances where there once stood

an old country home and recall the tragedy that happened on one cold icy night. The

families of 50 people will forever be changed and in time, people will mend but will

never forget what happened in this little cozy town.

Soon Spring will be arriving with its wonderful sounds and smells of the season. It is the

"awakening" after a long dreary winter that I along with every Buffalonian look forward

to every year. It will be especially bitter sweet this year. I am grateful to witness the peaceful

sunrise every clear morning as I am out and about during that time of day. There is

nothing more beautiful that a quiet Spring morning when the only sounds are those of

birds celebrating the new day. It is the best time to reflect and enjoy the silent moments

before the world awakens. It is a time to thank G-D for what we have. My prayers go out

to all of those families that will be grieving for a long time to come and I can only hope

that time will somehow ease their pain. The whole world will know about the tragedy

that happened here in Clarence, New York, but the chill will be felt for a very long time

when I think of how that night changed the lives of so many, so close to m

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