> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On
> Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[snip]
> After this day of tragedy, I think it's also very important to note the
> remarkable instances of heroism that are now slowly being revealed to us.
> It has already been mentioned on this list that hundreds of policemen and
> firefighters lost their lives in the incident. Let us pause for a moment
> in our lives to think of the bravery of the men and women who say
> those two
> buildings on flames - and ran _into_ the danger, risking their
> own lives in
> an attempt to save others.
Despite our obvious differences, let me say thank you, Gautam, for being
first to say so. And believe me, I mean that, in ways that I hope only a
few of us here can. You see, many years ago, I was a paramedic. I also
helped run the Salvation Army's Emergency Disaster Services volunteer
program. I have lost friends fighting fires. I have made triage decisions
(in far, far smaller emergencies, of course). These things still hurt,
nearly 20 years later, especially on Tuesday when I saw others facing
overwhelming casualties and people who could not be rescued, multiplied
incomprehensibly.
There are not sufficient words to describe what happens in the heart of
those who are trained to save lives, when we are forced by circumstances to
do less than we know we *could* do, given sufficient resources -- enough
hands, ladders tall enough or whatever. I've had a lot of flashbacks in the
last few days, especially while in prayer, oddly enough, to triage
decisions, to fires where people jumped or fell as they were being rescued,
and especially to the funeral of another Salvation Army volunteer, killed in
a house fire, whose funeral became a message that touched my heart more
deeply than I can express.
There are many visible wounds in New York and Washington. Let's not forget,
now in the future, the invisible wounds that will take even longer to heal.
Praise God, we now know much more about critical incident debriefings and
therapies than in the days when I was in emergency services.
Let's also remember that we all are invisibly wounded to one degree or
another. No one gets through this life untouched.
Nick
