‘Paper Can Be Replaced. People Cannot.’

Re “Towers of Missing Paperwork,” Oct. 30: During the weeks since the destruction of the World Trade Center and the partial destruction of the Pentagon, we have heard a lot about heroes and extraordinary people involved with the rescue and cleanup. How grateful we are, then, to New York City attorney Roman Popik, who put it all in perspective for us: “A Harvard law degree or a Stanford MBA is not just a degree. It’s like having a World Trade Center address. It says everything about who you are. Without it, you’re just ordinary.”

I think that a survey done among NYC-area law enforcement officers, firefighters and EMT personnel would probably turn up few Harvard law degrees and even fewer Stanford MBAs. Perhaps Popik, obviously not an ordinary person, would enjoy his achievement even more if he could somehow let these people know how extraordinary he is. Were I a rescue worker grubbing through the crushed concrete, shattered glass, twisted steel, powdered asbestos and the ever-present stench of death hoping to find something recognizable--even Popik’s precious diplomas--I would certainly like to hear directly from him how ordinary I was.

Pete Sloman

Pasadena

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My reaction to your piece about the papers lost in the World Trade Center is a big “who cares?” I am an attorney representing plaintiffs in a multimillion-dollar discrimination case. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s entire investigation file on my case was lost in the collapse of 7 World Trade Center, and my reaction, and that of my clients, to the missing paperwork is that it is meaningless in the face of the terrible loss of life. Paper can be replaced. People cannot.

My advice to anyone whining about losing items of personal property, be they diplomas or legal documents, is “get over it.”

Martina A. Silas

Encino