Staff Editorial: A hope for the future

Helplessness is a horrible feeling.

It pulls at a whole array of emotions: anger, sadness, frustration and weakness. It forces us to re-examine our strengths and our vulnerabilities. And more often than not, it leaves us searching for meaning -- but turns up few results.

In these first days after the worst tragedy in our nation's history, helplessness may be the best description for what many of us are confronting, both at Penn and elsewhere around the country. It is the sense of loss, made worse by the miles separating us from our friends and loved ones in New York and Washington. It is the sense of grief, exacerbated by television images that can't extend beyond a two-dimensional screen.

Penn right now is a campus suffering, like the rest of the world, from a horrible calamity. We don't yet know the full extent of our loss, but we do know that it likely includes our classmates, friends, relatives, associates and many other members of the university community. The sheer scale of it all is imposing and terrifying; the continuing doubt, downright maddening.

Over the past 48 hours, the students, staff and faculty of this university have responded with unprecedented strength -- confronting our collective helplessness with a resolve and determination that offers great hope for the future.

Penn's administration and faculty have proven to be capable and compassionate facilitators -- offering the resources and emotional stability needed most in these grave times. Students, meanwhile, have served as the backbone of our support network, offering their words, their blood and their love in the true sense of community and compassion.

Now, though, the challenge grows. The coming days will reveal even more about the horrors that we have already endured -- names will soon be matched to bodies, and families will be confronted with a much more personal grief.

The helplessness we now know will undoubtedly grow stronger as these tragedies hit home. That's why it is so important that we, as a community, continue to respond with the fervor and warmth that has guided us thus far. Continue to utilize Penn's extensive support system -- Counseling and Psychological Services, spiritual advisors as well as your fellow students -- and remember that for many of us, the tragedies this week go far beyond the images on TV.

Keep that kind of attitude -- and that kind of perseverance -- and we are sure to emerge from this crisis as a stronger community and a better university.

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