Recovering from horror …

Frontiersman editorial board

The sound of silence can speak volumes about the feelings of a community, and a country.

The nation is still struggling to put the pieces of life back together and return to a state of normalcy after last Tuesday's horrific hijacking of commercial jet airliners and their subsequent crashes into the Pentagon and New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and Pennsylvania. Slowly, we are getting there, however.

In the Mat-Su Valley, that recovery included watching high school football Friday night, appropriately enough at Veterans' Memorial Field.

Some would argue that playing the Potato Bowl -- or any other high school sports event, for that matter -- was uncalled for in the face of what had happened. Instead, the football field turned out to be a place where people went to try to return to the more innocent way of life they knew before last Tuesday's events unfolded on television before a horrified national audience.

The field announcer for the Potato Bowl, Paul Cossette, summed up the thoughts of many.

Playing the game, he essentially said, was patriotic and uplifting.

"Is there anything more American than high school football under the Friday night lights?"

Before the game, there was a moment of silence to honor the country and remember the thousands of people who are missing or dead. In an instant, the couple of thousand people in attendance who had been chanting for Wasilla and Palmer drew silent, as a flag was ushered onto the field by members of both teams, cheerleaders and school representatives.

At that moment, the silence said it all. Young children who have kept their innocence throughout this attack fell silent. Grandparents who saw the horror of World War II were silent.

Twenty-something adults, who have never experienced something as horrible as what happened, were silent.

The silence covered every generation, from youngest to oldest. It showed that this overwhelming tragedy knows no race, no age, no sex. It only knows Americans.

In the days to come, there will be much talk about military retaliation, the beginning of a new war against terrorism, the stock market, the victims and rebuilding efforts. News broadcasts will continue to be round-the-clock, and every move will be analyzed over and over again.

But in an ironic way, silence has been the loudest voice heard on all the issues.

Take time to fly an American flag high, and be proud to be an American.

We are starting to pick up the pieces, slowly, and return to our lives.

As the hustle and bustle of normalcy returns, remember to take a moment every now and then, and silently remember what has happened to our country.

The silence puts things in perspective.