Posted on 09/06/2002 6:17:32 AM PDT by LenS
Edited on 04/13/2004 1:39:52 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
The bodies of 2,803 human beings were buried when the World Trade Center crumbled into 3 billion pounds of debris. Miraculously, 20 people survived the collapse, amid steel beams, concrete slabs and other wreckage. They escaped death in the most unlikely of ways and in the most surprising of places. Fourteen people survived inside the remnants of a stairwell at the center of the north tower. One man remembers falling from a 22nd floor stairwell in the north tower and regaining consciousness atop the 12-story-deep pile of rubble at Ground Zero. Two police officers, trapped in debris between the towers, barely survived both collapses.
(Excerpt) Read more at usatoday.com ...
Surely there is a medal in the works for this Marine. This act demostrates the essence of what it means to serve the people of this country. No orders were needed, he just acted for the people of the USA.
5thGenTexan
How so?
I remember hearing Billy Graham's daughter talking about this on FoxNews. It makes me weep all over again. But these miraculous stories help even as I feel a tidal wave of grief about to sweep over us again. Lord, have mercy.
What I thought of when I read that was how desperately the rescue workers were working to reach any who might have survived. And now they certainly must know that some did survive for who knows how long.
Never forget.
"Chief," Lim said finally, "what do you think the chances of surviving something like this are?""One in a billion," Picciotto said. "One in a billion."
Wow, it turned out to be 1 in 140! (2803/20) After constantly hearing that virtually nobody survived the collapse, it's a little encouraging to know that 20 people actually did survive in the rubble. I wish they (the press in general) had emphasized this fact earlier.
Rumors and distortions were running rampant even at the site. There was also several rescues of workers who while searching had gotten trapped. The press passed on the rumors that these were rescues of original survivors. When those rumors were corrected (and hurting the hopes of the families of the missing), the press grew wary of reporting about survivors. So the reports were delayed until tales could be fully checked out.
The story of the firemen, the cop and the lady in Stairway B was being told on the news magazines within a few days. Of course, they escaped on their own.
The two gents who escaped from the underground plaza and the fall of the South Tower both walked on their own out of the death zone before the second tower fell. So they were just part of the running crowds and not around when the post-collapse rescue efforts began. And the other gentleman who was in shock if he recalls everything may feel guilt that he left Mr. Canavan behind, so I doubt he's been interested in talking to the press. So the media had no idea of their amazing tale of survival. They were simply two of the thousands to flee.
The story of the two trapped firemen found by the off-duty Marine was definitely in the papers fairly soon after 9-11.
Finally, the story of Ms. Guzman and Mr. Buzelli was out there in at least garbled form -- Mr. Buzelli's final position on top of the rubble is probably the root of the tale of someone riding the collapse all the way down from the top. Consider his strong feelings of survival guilt, I doubt Mr. Buzelli wanted to initially talk to the press. And Ms. Guzman as the last survivor found was also reported (but lost in the rumors and confusion) -- it's just that her understandable decision to not talk to the media made it difficult to do a detailed story.
Think about it though, all that effort and digging only rescued three people. Sixteen others escaped on their own and Mr. Buzelli ended up above the wreckage.
Lord, Source of all blessing, bless us indeed;
For Yours is the bounty, and ours is the need;
We trust to Your wisdom, in this request,
For You give Your children all the best.
Enlarge, too, our boundaries, so that we may
Begin greater work for Your kingdom this day;
May we be a blessing, to those who seek
For meaning in lives where hope is weak.
Lord, while are are striving, give us Your hand
To help spread Your Word throughout the land;
Let us do not evil, seek only right,
And usher in... dawn---to darkest night.
LORD, SOURCE OF ALL BLESSING. © 2001, Richard W. Adams. These lyrics may be freely reproduced for Christian worship, provided they are not altered, and this notice is on each copy. All other rights reserved.
Good News For The Day
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light. (Matthew 11:29&30)
"To those who are wearied by hard and unrewarding usage, Jesus offers relief. Yet we see that it is not rest in the form of complete cessation of obligation. Jesus rest from the yoke that galls lies in acceptance of another yoke of service-his. There is a rest for tired spirits, that can only be had along the road of service. Jesus teaches that that there can be no succor for the toils of despairing effort, apart from effort of another kind-effort springing out of a new and different relationship."
"Jesus rest does not liberate us from a sense of the seriousness of sin. Rather, we are taught by him that sin is more virulent, and dangerous than we had ever dreamt. He takes us on a... tour(link)---through the neighborhood of our own soul, and there discloses vast tracts of evil we had not thought were there."
"Instead of a...cheap escapism---Jesus delivers us from the discouragement of bad religion, and other poor moral guardians, by asking us to come with him and bear the load that love laid on his back. The paradox of Jesus is that love is always heavy-laden. Yet it is precisely this willingness to bear, that makes the yoke of Christ light."
"If we are not yoked with Jesus, we shall have to wear the yoke of other value systems which may appear to ask little of us, but which in fact leave us guilty, remorseful, drained of hope, and joy."
Matthew 7:6... "Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before the swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces."
Hebrews 4:12..."For the word-TRUTH of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart."
John 14:27..."Peace, I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful
"Do not be overwhelmed by evil; rather, overwhelm evil with good."
I found some remarkable post-9-11 columns on the Joe Bob Briggs website, by John Bloom. There are several in a row, under "Special Report." http://www.johnbloom.com/specialreports/20010911.html
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