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Soothing the 'restlessness of soul' Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Ascension Lutheran Church minister Bob Larson and other clergy and counselors find that a month after the terrorist attacks, Rogue Valley residents are still coping with grief and a sense of loss. By BILL KETTLER A woman whispered in the Rev. Bob Larson's ear Sunday as he greeted members of his congregation after worship. "She has sons in the Naval Academy and the Air Force Academy," said Larson, the pastor of Medford's Ascension Lutheran Church. "She hugged me real tight and said, 'This is not a good time to be a mother of sons in the service academies.' " A month after terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, many Rogue Valley residents still feel grief and a sense of loss. Some seek solace from their ministers. Others have turned to workplace counseling services for help. "I've talked to over 100 people since all of this happened," said Larson, who has led the congregation for 34 years. "They come into my office. I run into them in the post office or stores. "I have sensed in everybody a restlessness of soul and a feeling of being off-kilter." Larson said the grief persists despite Oregon's distance from New York and Washington, D.C., because we have no experience with so much sudden death and destruction in the United States. "The deaths of so many people happen every day all over the world," he said, "but this is unique on American soil. The horror of it will live in our minds forever because this kind of thing has not happened on our soil before. It caught everybody off-guard." The Rev. Caren Caldwell has seen the sadness, too, at Ashland's Congregational United Church of Christ. "You can't go anywhere without seeing it in people's faces," Caldwell said. "People are trying to get on with their lives, but they don't have the heart for it. "Every conversation turns to this," Caldwell said. "The stuff people saw on television. Their concerns about Afghanistan. Will there be more (terrorist) attacks?" Caldwell said the suicide attacks have shattered some people's perception of the North American continent as a place of peace. "Our generation grew up in peace," said Caldwell, 50. "We heard the stories about World War II. We thought that doesn't happen anymore. We thought our world is safer." Caldwell said church members' stress level has been a frequent topic during the past month when ministers gather to talk. Some ministers have noticed church members' health deteriorate during the past month. "I heard another pastor say people in the parish who are sick - the level of stress is just making them sicker." Stress related to the attacks may surface in ways that people won't necessarily connect to the events of Sept. 11, said Guy Perrin, of Wellness 2000, a Medford company that provides counseling services to public and private employers. Perrin said more people have called seeking help for drug and alcohol problems, marital strife and on-the-job conflicts since the Sept. 11 attacks. "Most who call don't cite Sept. 11 as the reason for calling," he said, "but it seems to have shaken people down to the core in a lot of cases." Perrin said many people who work in government agencies, particularly the federal government, fear they might become terrorist targets. "If you're in the military, or do police work, or emergency services, you're trained to deal with trauma and critical incidents. A bureaucrat working in the woods - that's not what they signed on for. "It's harder for them to see Sept. 11 as an isolated incident retreating into the past." Perrin said the attack on the World Trade Center touched so many people because they had visited there. "Most of the people I've talked to have been there," he said. "They've laid on a bench in the plaza where the building fell." People who have moved through their grief over the attacks continue to be absorbed by the unfolding story, said the Rev. Anne Bartlett, of Trinity Episcopal Church in Ashland. "It is the stuff of our lives," she said. "It comes up in sermons, in prayers, in adult education groups, in fellowship time. It's the pervasive subject to which we are applying our faith." At Medford's First Presbyterian Church, the surge of deep grief seems mostly to have passed, said the Rev. Joyce de DeGraaff. "Sure, everybody's sad and we're grieving, but I don't see people falling apart." Perrin, the counselor, said television has made the attacks feel like they happened close to home. "Seeing that jet fly into the building in real time creates a virtual proximity," he said. "There's something that happens with TV that has pulled us into this event." Perrin said new security precautions at airports and other sites may have the psychological effect of increasing anxiety rather the reducing it because people equate the extra security precautions with a heightened level of danger. "The actual security may be higher," he said, "but the perceived security is lower." Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.