The Call

It’s 3:30am and I should be going to bed after what was a long day. However, I figured I’d check email quickly. I found a cute link a friend of mine had e-mailed me. It was of this little girl calling 9-1-1. Her dad was having chest pains. Don’t worry. The dad lives and the kid is too cute! I finished watching it and had a huge smile on my face. Then YouTube had listed a bunch of videos from September 11, 2001. The smile quickly faded. The videos included 9-1-1 calls of people who died in the Twin Towers that horrific day.

I knew I didn’t want to click and listen to these calls, but I was interested and wanted to hear a recording. So I hit the first call and listened to the man’s ... this father’s ... this husband’s final moments. I thought about his family and the dispatcher on the other end of the line. It just broke my heart into a million pieces. Then I realized. I’ll be here on September 11th. I haven’t been to the 9/11 Memorial yet. No real reason. I know I will go at some point to pay my respects to the heroes and to the fallen. Then I thought it was weird that I haven’t been. Then I thought, “weird.” I was on the train coming home this morning and was sitting across from a guy. He had an odd, cylinder-like bag, with a lock on it that I found a bit unusual. What was weird was the first thing I thought. I thought, “What's in that bag and will it go off?” It’s the first time since I lived here that I thought about terrorism in New York City. I mean we hear it on the subway all the time ... the announcement about keeping our eyes open for suspicious activity and reporting it.  I looked at the bag and watched this guy’s behavior (which was nothing unusual). Then, I noticed something. The guy next to him was watching him too!  After a few minutes the guy sitting next to him went back to listening to his music and I went back to watching the time pass. 

Time ... time that many of us take for granted at some point in our lives. Time, that we should remember ... could run out at any moment ... for any one of us. So as I wrap up this somber blog entry ... let’s remember not to take for granted the things in life ... the people in our lives  ... the time. For me. It’s time to go to bed ... and time to say a prayer for all the angels watching over us.

"Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of the children." -President George W. Bush, November 11, 2001

"Even the smallest act of service, the simplest act of kindness, is a way to honor those we lost, a way to reclaim that spirit of unity that followed 9/11." -President Barack Obama

"9/11 was a reminder that the bonds of family can be severed in an instant. They are essential, crucial, valuable, fragile." -Peter Jennings, late news anchor of ABC's World News Tonight

The Eleventh Of September
Written by Roger J. Robicheau ©2002
The Poetic Plumber www.thepoeticplumber.com

We mourn their loss this day this year
Those now with God, no danger near

So many loved ones left do stand
Confronting loss throughout our land

My heart goes out to those who do
No one can fathom what they view

I firmly pray for peace of mind
Dear God please help each one to find

And to our soldiers now at war
God guide above, at sea, on shore

They are the best, I have no doubt
Our country’s pride, complete, devout

The finest force you’ll ever see
All freedom grown through liberty

One final thought comes clear to me
For what must live in infamy

Absolutely - We’ll Remember
The Eleventh - Of September