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Date Posted: 08:18:41 09/16/01 Sun
Author: Naturally
Subject: Grace Under Fire

�The world breaks everybody. But we become stronger in the broken places� -Ernest Hemingway

So much has been broken in the last few days. Our hearts, our peace of mind, our nation�s security and our notions of security. It was the first thing that struck me. One minute all is right in the world, an hour later, it was hard to imagine if the world would ever be right again.

It seems we live a charmed existence on this part of the globe. It is usually our lot to be spectators to the world�s disasters and tragedies. We don�t have earthquakes or large scale flooding. No mudslides or wild fires, no rampant or large scale violence. Even our cities, while enduring many of the blights most urban areas engender, seem to be safer, harbor less strife and crime as others.

On Tuesday, that random blessing of bucolic geography was also broken. The airport I was at just two weeks ago was the starting point of it all. A man who lives two miles away was taken from us and the plane he piloted was made to crash into a skyscraper. I pass his farm everyday on my way to work. A lady I work with was crying Friday because her son is in the army. I didn�t know what to say to her. I have no experience with anxious mothers who are afraid their sons may die in a war. My only experience with war has been in a theater or in my living room watching The Deer Hunter or Saving Private Ryan.

Like everyone else, I have often struggled with why God would permit such suffering. I hear the stories of messages left by those who knew their lives were now measured in minutes instead of years and I can�t help by wonder about that merciful God who I was taught loved us. Our Priests and Pastors will tell us that we have to rely on faith and faith, by its very nature, holds as ransom our understanding and comprehension.

I watch the thousands of people who have volunteered to help locate survivors in the piles of concrete and twisted metal. I am in awe of the courage those fireman and police officers displayed doing the most unnatural thing imaginable. Running into the buildings that were on fire and doing so without a moments hesitation. Their only goal was to help those people trapped inside. I believe that as they ran up those stairs and the building came down, that their assent was only paused briefly before their souls completed the journey to be with a proud God in heaven. And, I have to conclude, that if there�s any purpose to the suffering of so many people it is that it avails ordinary men and women the opportunity to be Godlike.

In our suffering we are now united and we�ve come to acknowledge that America is indeed a place to appreciate, love and honor. Friday night my wife went down to the driveway with her candle. Of course, I have too much swagger and irreverence to do something so sentimental. I was watching the news and saw people jumping out of windows and I heard a message a Dad left for his wife and kids on their answering machine. He was scared but brave and told them all how much he loved them.

With a lump in my throat I brought a candle downstairs and stood with my wife.

God bless America. Our deepest sympathies to all of the lost and especially to the Ogonowski family.

�

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