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"WEEKEND STAR" FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2001-9 Life can change in an instant for anyone in today's world SCREENING ROOT By John Foote The second half of the Toronto International Film Festival was a hushed, sombre affair, directly impacted by the horrific terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. There was a point when event director Piers Handling must have considered. shutting the entire Festival down, but instead forged ahead, allowing cinema to be what it has been so often in the past, an escape and refuge from the horrors of the world. Press conferences were can- celled, red carpets were rolled up and celebrities tried to go home to no avail. Most parties were cancelled, including: the annual closing night bash, because quite frankly, no one was in the mood as thoughts were elsewhere. Sitting in a movie theatre, gone were the excited comments from critics around the world before the film began, and for the rest of the week, there was no cele- bratory mood. Life had burst through, exploding with a horrible reality that ended any sort of celebration. In the blink of an eye, the world we live in changed, and though we may not yet feel the total impact-of how, it has indeed 'changed. Lives have been lost, a war waged on the United States by an unseen enemy, security issues raised, and the skyline of New York, perhaps the most famous in the world, forever changed. Children are without their fathers or moth- ers, parents have lost adult children, and husbands and wives have lost one anoth- er. I was driving in to work when | heard Howard Stern (yes, I'm a listener) remark he could see smoke coming from the World Trade Center. Moments later the building was on fire, and then of course, a second plane slammed into the second tower, forever changing our way of life. To the generations before us, it was Pearl Harbour; to us the image of the sec- ond plane exploding into the World Trade Center will be forever engrained in our minds. My immediate need when | arrived at the Press Office at the Film Festival was to go home and be with my family. Aurora, my. oldest daughter, is a panicker about world events, always fearful of twisters, so something like this would terrify her. Briefly my wife and I spoke 'on the phone and decided to deal with the girls whe we got home. | Sherri was concerned about the evacu- ation of the Toronto financial district, which is very close to my office, but I assured her I was fine. The Film Festival shut down for the day on Tuesday to allow everyone to gain some semblance of understanding as to what had happened in the United States. American journalists wept openly in the corridors of the Park Hyatt Hotel, on the. streets of Festival Village, and in front of televisions that played the carnage over and over. Suddenly cinema mattered less than ever. What had began as a celebration of world cinema had been torn into meaning nothing, as the events of the world took immediate study. ) That evening while watching CNN with my wife and daughters, I found it easy to explain to Aurora how this had happened, but was stumped on how to explain why it had happened. Fearful of a war, she asked me later if | would be fighting in the war to which my wife joked. "They won't take him, he's a gimp," referring to my sub- stantial limp and use of a cane. | We laughed about it, and I began to think long and hard about how the inci- dents in the United States got me think- ing about the year I have had. : She has earned the right to tease me because we went through hell together this year in the days and nights after my car accident. Somehow, we became clos- er, which considering the bond between us before, seems impossible. 1 stand in awe of Sherri, not for having the strength to get through what she did, but for shar- ing 'that strength with me to help me through my injuries. Though my physical injuries, broken legs, broken pelvis, broken arm, broken ribs, damaged heart, liver and bowel, were substantial, these things heal. I am not what I once was, | am now damaged goods so to speak. Two long straight scars decorate my chest and stomach, drawing stares at the beach, evidence of the surgery performed on my heart and stom- ach, and my legs are a mess. People have asked me how I dealt with the pain, but you know, I do not remem- ber much of the pain. What I do remem- ber is laying in a hospital bed wondering how I survived the wreckage of the car? - Why me? How did I get out alive? | am a deep thinker, someone who analyzes things over and over, and | need answers to everything, because | believe every- thing happens for a reason. What reason was there on February 14, 2001 for that other car to slide into my lane and hit me head-on? What reason was there to leave me partially crippled? In the grand scheme of things, what importance is there that I lived, when any- one who has seen the car knows I should have died? A I have been haunted these past few months by the fact I am still alive, strug- gling to find the answers and reasons for my surviving what should have been a fatal car accident. In my nightmares I see headlights coming at me in the moments before I awaken, or I am trapped in the car still, awaiting the firefighters and ambu- lance attendants to pull me out. One clear memory | have is speaking with the doctors when I came to, begin- ning to understand the extent of my injuries. Asking him how close | came to dying, he smiled, put his hand on my chest and whispered, "Closer than you ever want to come again. Your wife is real- ly something, she willed you to be alright, in her eyes nothing bad was going to hap- pen." Sherri talked to me when I was uncon- scious, shaved me when I could not yet Turn to Page 26 SEPTEMBER 30, 2001 HILROY Fige 9 Pols : Letter size. 10 pads per pack. 96 sheets per pad. 6380-311 5/16" wide ruled. 65800-51170 1/4" quod ruled. 21200-66349 3" x 5° 21200-66423 2x 3° 3M 810 "Magic" Invisible Tape Dispenser Pack. 21200-70283 19mm x 329M. | 39910 / 23.94 for bos Boxed Reb, 21200-72835 18mm x 30M. eerie 3.99 100 / 46.68 for 12 10k miracles. world. Family Worship Centre Durham Rd. 23 (Lakeridge Rd.) & Medd Rd. Pastor J. Hackner 905-852-3563 or 905-852-7054 oN - ~ SERVICES: | Friday & Saturday, September 21-22 at 7 pm. Sunday, September 23 at 11 am. & 6:30 pm. Guest Speaker: Rev. Davib PIPER Rev. DAVID PIPER who was born in a small town in rural South Georgia. He was brought up in church and had the call of God on his life at a young age, however Satan desired to destroy the call on his life. David in his teen years fell into drugs and alcohol addiction that lasted 17 1/2 years. In 1998 David was immediately delivered by the power of God. As David followed the leading of God into a jail ministry, he was there for 8 months ministering to inmates who suffered the same disease of addiction that had once held him. He began to see hundreds of people saved and healed and set free as God began to follow through his life with Rev. Piper answered the call to full-time ministry, He was licensed under the covering of Ruth Ward Heffin and doors began to open around the Everywhere David ministers signs, wonders, and miracles follow the preaching of God's word, thousands of people have come to know Jesus Christ as their savior and there are many documental healings and delivences in the lives of people around the world.