I'll miss her.

Submitted by concerned (Italy), Sep 17, 2006 at 08:28

All I can say is that I'll miss Oriana Fallaci. She was definitely a courageous woman whose observations and comments were and still are absolutely necessary. Without knowing it, her book "The Rage and The Pride" was a great help to me at a dark, lonely time in my life: the aftermath of Sep't. 11, 2001.

The whole of 2001 was a terrible time for me; perhaps the worst ever in my life. My father died in Jan., while my mother died on Aug. 1 of that year. Family was of little help or comfort at the time, so returning to Europe was an event of mixed feelings for me. At any rate, after 9-11, you simply can never understand what was going on in my mind in light of how "the progressive, liberal left" seemed to enjoy and take glory in what had taken place. That, coupled with their diabolic criticism of Israel and unflagging support of Arafat, literally left me speechless, yet seething with rage inside.

When one considers that my father had fought in Europe during WWII, while my mother worked at 17 yrs. of age not only to support her family, but do her part in supporting the troops, my rage almost boiled over at times! Anyway, almost a year had passed when I looked at Oriana's book, and what I had thumbed through attracted me and spoke to my heart as well as to my mind. Finally, I was able to understand the rage within myself as it was hers, too. I've since read her other two books and have to agree with her analysis, for the most part. May this courageous person rest in peace and may we have the courage to listen to what she said and act accordingly.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".