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Tuesday, September 11, 2007

The world stopped turning. . .

If you have little ears around you may want to wait on playing the video or turn down the volume at the beginning because it is unedited and has one vulgar word repeated a few times.
Cross-Posted at Catholic-Dads.

It is hardo imagine that it has been six years since I was sitting in the parking lot before work talking on 147.435 simplex to K9HFX and KCØHFL. Scott, K9HFX, mentioned that the news channell was running a story about a plane crashing into the world trade center. The event was being reported as a small plane. Everyone had conjecture about wht kind of mistake had been made by the pilot. Then the report came in that a second plane had struck the other tower. Immediately we knew something was very wrong, this was not a mistake someone had made.

Lviving the past six years I know have four children, athe time my I only had 1 child and she was two years old. She doesn't remember that day directly. They wanted to know what my wife and I were talking about last night when I mentioned what today was. It was hard to explain it to them, I didn't play the above video for them but some raw footage as it was just so hard to explain exactly what happened. My eight and five year olds took on the mind of their father and begin to ask a million questions as to why this and that wasn't done to save people's lives and how the police could have jumped out of one plane into the bad men's plane and stopped them.

God bless them that they think it is something that is simple like that. I wish it was always that simple. Working in emergency services I have come to know many brave men and women who on a daily basis offer to risk their lives in the service of others. They give so much of themselves for total strangers, they remember the fallen brothers and sisters from New York on that day, the day the world stopped turning. Today we remember them in a special way.

We remember that day because it is a day that I never would have thought of seeing, much like the day the Berlin Wall fell, it was something my father never thought would happen. I remember seeing the Queen of England in Westminster Abbey not only mourning for America's loss but singing an American patriotic hymn. Remember the sacrifice and loss of that day when the world stopped turning. Thank God you have first responders around you.

Tragedies happen everyday, few are on this scale, pray for those that respond to crisises, no matter how small, that is the overlooked lesson from New York. When someone is abused they are hurt just as deeply but it is overlooked by the world. However, just like Sept 11th, it is a moment where that person needs help. I am not, in any way, trying to minimize the horror of September 11th, what I want people to understand is that a small tragedy (relatively speaking) can be just as scary for one person trapped in a house and it can be just as dangerous for someone responding to the call for help.

Under the Mercy,

Matthew S




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