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Journal

September 11-17, 2001

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Editor's Note: Peter Glen passed away in his sleep on Oct. 4, 2001, at age 62. See Farewell to a Dear Friend.

Tuesday, September 11

Two items immediately had huge sales increases: flags and guns.

Wal-Mart sold 116,000 American flags.

Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor emptied their windows, putting in only flags, flowers and words.

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Federated Department Stores planned to run full-page newspaper ads offering sympathy to the victims and their families.

Petco in San Diego sent 500 pair of dog booties, eyewash and bandages to New York to protect search-and-rescue dogs from heat and sharp objects.

Gas merchants'prices in Chicago rose to $5 a gallon.

The Sheraton Hotel at La Guardia Airport in New York doubled its room rates.

The Union Park BMW car dealership in Wilmington, Del., remained open. Owner Frank Ursomarso said he refused to let terrorists tell him what to do. There were no buyers.

Wednesday, September 12

Wal-Mart sold 200,000 flags.

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A new Wal-Mart store in Union, N.J., preparing for its grand opening, loaded up two trucks with emergency supplies and sent them to New York and the Pentagon.

Amazon.com donated tech employees to the Red Cross.

Endeavoring to carry out their work, only two-thirds of managers from The Body Shop Canada made it to their annual meeting. I was keynote speaker. Together, we all agreed on the eight-hour act of deliberate concentration. We did our best. Work is not trivial.

Thursday, September 13

A blur … 48 hours in a Toronto airport hotel room, waiting, obsessed with television, depressed, hoping to go home. When reality intrudes like this, we first confuse it with Bruce Willis movies.

Music moguls rushed to cancel this week's release of a new rock album whose cover showed the Twin Towers exploding. I was stunned, but the week before I wouldn't have been shocked to see it on the shelf in every music store.

Millennium Music in Charleston, S.C., contributed 50 cents for every CD sold online toward its $10,000 goal for the relief effort.

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Lands'End had a company-wide moment of silence, company-wide donations, onsite blood drive and Christmas gifts to the Red Cross for all employees.

Wal-Mart sold 135,000 flags.

Friday, September 14

Flags sold out around the nation.

Mall of America changed all signs to flags. Gun sales were still doubling.

In Paris, a high-fashion boutique simply displayed a Statue of Liberty, flanked by two postcards of the World Trade Center.

The “Middle East” section of Washington's Politics and Prose bookstore was cleaned out. Barnes & Noble and Borders bookstores canceled 126 author events.

Saturday, September 15

Blue, a spa products company, confirmed its New York tradeshow for October 10, saying that the best thing to do is support the people of New York.

New York's Union Square Café and sister restaurant 11 Madison Park delivered more than 5000 meals to police precincts, firehouses, hospitals and shelters.

A shop-and-restaurant employee was fired for refusing to serve an Arab-American customer.

Sunday, September 16

Sunday interrupted the uninterrupted flow of ugliness. We saw New York City and its citizens getting ready to go back to work Monday. Television news programs started calling their coverage “America Rising.”

Kmart took a full-page ad in The New York Times displaying an American flag graphic and instructions: “Remove from newspaper. Place in window. Embrace freedom.” I appreciated this ad. It gave me something to do.

A Brooklyn bride who lost her brother and father in the last six months – one a fireman – had no one to escort her down the aisle. New York mayor Rudy Giuliani did it. “Do something,” he told us. Act normal. Begin.

Go to work! he said, just when we despaired of being useful, and with idle helplessness taking too much time.

We'll have to go back into airports, offices, trains, daycare centers, farms, factories and finishing schools, and we'll have to do it soon, because that is the way this world works.

We spent a week sitting watching heroes work. Now it's time to turn off the TV. We have been sitting far too long in front of virtual reality. Do the right thing. Go to work.

Monday, September 17

On Sunday, Jack Welch said it, Warren Buffett said it, Robert Rubin, Mayor Giuliani, President Bush, they all said it: Go to work. It's useful. You can do it.

How to begin?

“Begin!” The word that marks the turning point and starts the unknowable recovery – begin! Healing is in the doing.

Monday, Wal-Mart ceo F. Lee Scott told CNBC that Wal-Mart had immediately donated $2 million to the Red Cross and other agencies. One million employees devised the campaign “Together We Stand,” and matching grants and other employee efforts have already yielded $5 million for emergency relief.

Ace Hardware, in Cloverdale, owner Will Jopson donated his last 60 flags to the Sonoma County Sheriff department.

The Vermont Teddy Bear Company donated Angel Bears, Police Bears and Firefighter Bears to all the families and children of the firefighters, police officers and rescue workers who had lost their lives saving others.

Home Depot prepared its national ads asking customers to donate their tax refund checks and more to United Way.

A block away from Ground Zero, Staples opened its store, donated computers, supplies, free copying, gave the FBI copy and fax machines on the spot and offered itself as an emergency site for firefighters to come in and call families.

Five children in Sudbury, Mass., raised $10,000 for charity selling red, white and blue jelly beans in front of a local grocery store. First steps.

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