We Gather Together

(14 of 14)

In the week after the attacks, the number of inquiries about joining AmeriCorps, the program that puts volunteers to work in struggling communities, jumped 30% and has held steady since. "It made me turn outward rather than inward," says new volunteer Andrew Karpinski, 23, who had been planning to do graduate work in English. "I think this whole thing has been especially difficult for young people, because our generation has been defined by O.J., Monica Lewinsky, stuff that was really trivia. Our generation has never had anything real to deal with." The impulse to postpone a career track and do some community service, he says, is not a matter of patriotism. "I think the logical response is to step back and think, What have I done for other people? I think people want to do something more for the community again. I think that's something that had been lost during the good times we had."

It is typical of these divergent times that when young adults decide they want to help, the surge of interest is felt from Habitat for Humanity, which has seen an increase of about 20% in volunteers in the Northeast, to the National Security Agency. The NSA received more than 19,000 resumes in the eight weeks following Sept. 11, nearly quadrupling its monthly average. Since late September, a one-year teacher-training program at DePaul University in Chicago has fielded double the usual number of calls from people who want to start teaching in the city's failing public schools. Recent applicants include an American Airlines flight attendant who wants to trade her overseas route for more time at home with her children and a real estate developer who feels guilty about displacing poor kids to make room for expensive condos.

In fact when people talk about how their lives and prospects have changed, the context may be fear and sorrow, but the response reflects great hope and resolve. This too marks a part of the Pilgrims' bequest. Whenever our ancestors came, it is likely they were willing to trade certainty for opportunity, to face a dangerous passage in order to arrive in a better place. This passage feels plenty dangerous now. But it has also given our children new heroes and our families new muscle and our beliefs new force, and that is more than enough to be thankful for, on the day we celebrate gratitude's birthday.

--Reported by Harriet Barovick, Jodie Morse, Benjamin Nugent, Julie Rawe and David Van Biema/New York, Wendy Cole/Chicago, Rita Healy/Denver, Broward Liston/Miami, Michelle McAllope/Houston and Jeanne McDowell/Los Angeles