Miriam's Gift: A Mother's Blessing--Then and Now

Miriam's Gift was one of the most moving reads I have experienced in a long time, deeply rewarding. Rosemary Mild has created a loving portrait of her daughter Miriam, who perished on Pan Am 103. I am so sorry that Miriam, and her fellow passengers, lost their lives due to the selfish, hateful acts of terrorism. This book has inspired me to try to find joy in daily life, even if it is difficult. It was one of the saddest books I ever read, yet I found myself smiling at the memories of Miriam the author recounted. Thank you Mrs. Mild for sharing Miriam with the rest of us. And thank you Miriam.

Although Miriam Wolfe was a victim of terrorism, a victim of official incompetence and bungling that produced catastrophic results, this is not a book about her death. This is a book about her life - a life lost much too soon.Be sure to have plenty of tissues and hankies nearby while reading this book, for you'll surely need them. For Miriam's story will touch you to the depths of your very soul and beyond. Miriam was a gift bestowed from heaven and had heavenly gifts of compassion, love, and understanding bestowed upon her. She was a truly gifted and unique individual and I'm deeply sorry I didn't know her, for if I had I would have been truly blessed. So many crime and terrorism victims are swept under the rug because it is too "politically undesirable" for the powers that be in the international community to seek due recourse for the terrorist crimes committed by such states that sponsor them. I can't understand this logic - why is it "politically undesirabe" to seek justice for the innocent, to speak loudly for those who no longer have a voice? It took almost 12 years to bring the 2 fiends responsible for the Pan Am 103 bombing to trial. Even then, 1 was acquitted and the other sentenced to 20 years in prison. Can anyone justly believe that this is proper punishment for the taking of 270 innocent lives?But this book does not deal with these political and diplomatic inadequacies, though Rosemary gives a brief depicition of these. She wants to talk about her beloved only child Miriam. While Miriam was not famous or well known, she possessed admirable stellar qualities. As human as the rest of us and therefore imperfect, she was indeed a young woman who saw potential in goodness and beauty, who placed real value on life's simplest joys, who viewed the world and all its sweetnesses through eyes which saw the glass as half full rather than half empty. Do all of you cowardly terrorists follow this concept?Rosemary describes her and the rest of her family's reactions to this appalling deed in a heartsickeningly candid guise that will transport the reader from the snugness of their own lives into the bleakness caused by such random and unmitigated acts of incomprehensible evil. I dare fellow readers to skip through this story. You can't, for in a world still reeling from the ghastliness and horrors of 11 September 2001, it strikes too close to home. For terrorists don't care who they destroy.But how you live is more important than how you die. Miriam's afterglow is great, for her name and her soul endures. There are now scholarships and memorials awarded in her name. Even in death, she's blessing people's lives and spirits with gifts given in the name of goodness. She's still helping those less fortunate than herself. What a wonderful legacy. Hatred combined with a few ounces of Semtex plastic explosives can't possibly destroy that.

Having worked as an aviation defense attorney for over 15 years, I wanted to learn more about the plaintiff's side. But I got a lot more than I bargained for when I read "Miriam's Gift: A Mother's Blessing - Then and Now." Rosemary Mild has written an extraordinary memoir -- the layout is perfect, the pictures of Miriam are stunning, not a word in the book is wasted, and the story itself, with its myriad insights, is nothing short of compelling. Without a doubt, it transformed me into a much more undertanding and compasionate person. "Miriam's Gift" is Rosemary's gift to the world. Thank you for your courage, strength, love and incredible writing ability.

One of my first memories of Miriam was during the Children's Theatre of Annapolis's production of "45 MINUTES FROM BROADWAY" when we were 12. I remember us trying to set up Mike Handwerger and Natalie Savignak with Muir and I playing matchmakers. The relays we did across the auditorium floor of Broadneck High School. "Well, he said if she comes over and says hello" and "Well, she said if he says hello first".I realize this is a bit off the beat-and-path, but MIRIAM'S GIFT has brought back so many wonderful memories for me, it is hard not to remenice and want to share more or Miriam's spirit. Reading the book has allowed me to finally remember Miriam without all of the pain of that night in December, 1988. Though the memories still linger, and the loss is never truly gone, Mrs. Mild has so eloquently interwoven the stories; that right before you want to cry, she shares one of Muir's own writings and you want to laugh. Or better said, you hear Miriam saying, "No more tears. Time to remember, learn, and move on."Reading the book was like being back in Maryland again in those care-free days before college; before "responsibility". Mrs. Mild recalls a production of MUSIC MAN. I still laugh every time I think of that show. The only time I've ever kicked a dance partner in the head and she still spoke to me! (Mind you, I've never done it since.)I knew Miriam was an avid writer, but I never knew to what lengths until reading this book. Her words are intelligent, humorous, and insightful. In fact, she gave me a journal which I never touched until I studied in London in 1990. I wrote constantly there. It is one of my most treasured possesions.Please don't think by what I've said that you have to have actually "known" Miriam to enjoy and appreciate this book. Trust me, by the end, you will; and feel like you have know her all your life.To Mrs. Mild, I would like to say, "Thank you. Your courage and strength are an inspiration to all who will read this book. Your writing shows a devotion that had no boundries". To anyone who may read this review, I must say this:Miriam was talent, friendship, and love. Her spirit will never leave us. After reading this book, she will stay with you and guide you and give you hope and inspiration for anything and everything you do. That is the person she was, and the spirit that will never die.

"Miriam's Gift: A Mother's Blessings--Then and Now" is a journey through the life of Miriam Lube Wolfe, who was a victim aboard Pan Am's flight 103 that exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, December 21, 1988. Miriam was 20 years old.As a co-worker of Miriam's father, I felt deep and helpless sympathy when he lost his only child in this horrible act of terrorism. In the days and weeks following Miriam's death, I often heard her described by those who knew her as extraordinary." Because I did not know her, I took this description with a grain of salt. After all, how extraordinary can a 20-year-old actually be? "Miriam's Gift" taught me just that!Rosemary Mild, Miriam's mother, takes us on her journey to glean some understanding of her child's death--and life. And on that journey,Mild not only remembers the child she knew, she discovers the child she might never have known had Miriam lived. From letters shared by friends, from her journals, notes, and essays, we, with Mild, learn how often and how deeply Miriam touched the lives and hearts of others. A prolific and gifted writer, the person who was Miriam emerges from her written words, which are lovingly, tenderly, and powerfully woven with her mother's beautifully crafted account of her years with Miriam and the hell she experienced after learning that her child was aboard that doomed flight.Mild takes us through the horrific moments, hours, days, and months following the disaster. Together we reach the place where we can share with her (and the other families) outrage at the unfeeling treatment of victims' families by Pan Am and our own State Department, and at the slipshod security employed by one of our nation's (then) largest airlines. We are astounded at the complexity of deception that kept Pan Am 103 departing on schedule when it should have been grounded after warnings that something was going to happen. All this is related not with the hysterical ax-grinding to which Mild and the others are certainly entitled, but with a slow unfolding that leaves the reader with disbelief and shame that such contempt for human feelings exists either in industry or our government. Triumphs in the face of such sorrow seem small by comparison to the horror, but triumphs there are, and by living the process of how the victims achieved them, we, the readers, are elated that something--that ANYTHING--positive may have risen from the wreckage of Pan Am 103 and the lives of those lost and left behind. Mild's greatest triumph, however, is having done the seemingly impossible--she has brought Miriam back to life not only for those who knew and loved her, but for those who did not have that opportunity. From Mild's skilled hand, Miriam becomes a part of our lives, and from Miriam's articulate writings and conversations related by family and friends, she will remain so. Within this 20-year-old child lived an old soul--a soul filled with knowledge and love and wisdom. From this c