The great city of New York remains in shock. Streets usually crammed with cars only bear a fraction of their usual traffic. The burning smell is unmistakeable, even a few miles north in midtown, where our office is. Thousands of emergency rescue workers, firemen and volunteers continue sifting through 'the pile', which is almost 10 stories high. So many emotions continue to surface as an overwhleming wave of solidarty comes from across the world.
And hundreds of people downtown are papering walls with pictures of loved ones, as more than 4500 missing people remain unaccounted for.

Today the city had life, but not much; more than 90 bomb threats have tried to keep us on edge. The Empire State Building, Penn Station and Grand Central (a block and a half away) were evacuated at different points and there is police presence everhwere, though not hostile. Airports remain shut, because a short while after they partially repoened today, 10 people were arrested at JFK and LaGuardia. So the worst part is not knowing if everything is over yet, and many are wondering what's next.

But it's comforting to see the messages of hope, encouragement and solidarity, especially from ours and other youth networks around the world. This is our time to come together and claim the right to a peaceful future, free from the injustices still plaguing us today.

This morning Jonah and I went to meet with Jane Goodall and her assistant Mary Lewis, both of whom we respect and adore for their amazing commitment to sharing that vision of hope, of listening to young people, and saving the planet. Tomorrow afternoon, there will be a discussion with them and Satish Kumar in New York, with young people being invited from the community to come together and talk about recent events, underlying causes and what can be done.

May our spirits endure, our hope prevail and this chaos come to a peaceful resolution soon.

Today will be a day of infamy. Two commmercial planes were hijacked and flown directly into each of the two towers of the World Trade Center in an apparrent terrorist act. There was about 15 minutes between the impact in each tower. Around the same time another two planes were also hijacked, one flown directly into the Pentagon a half hour later in Washington DC and the other crashing in rural Pennsylvania.

The World Trade Center was beginning the day at 8:45am, where more than 50,000 people work and about 150,000 people on average come to visit... Less than two hours later, in a most unbelievable site, both towers crumbled to the ground - one, then twenty minutes later the other.

The whole town is shocked and people around the world have been calling and checking in to make sure we're ok. Everyone at GYAN is safe and no one was in the immediate vicinity of WTC.

I am in Washington, only a few miles from the Pentagon and DC has declared a state of emergency. It seems that not only these two cities, but our nation and the whole world is feeling the impact of these tragedies. No one can even put a number to the casualties and injured yet, but most expect it to easily surpass 10,000 (civilian) people.

I wish I had more to say... On this International Day of Peace, the world was changed, but not for the better. The world is in shock.