A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day...911 Week, Day ONE 09-09-02

Written by JohnHuang2 with Graphics and Layout by Billie | JohnHuang2

[ST.LOUIE1]

Ooops! You blew the HTML, Louie. : (

I'm shocked, I tell you.....shocked! :) Don't you find too often just as you hit "post" -
oops! mistake! Well, maybe you don't - but I do!

Funny thing is....it looked great in preview. I blame JohnRob LOL!

[ST.LOUIE1]

"I have to be good for at least a few hours."

Doesn't 5 hours count as a few? It will be really tough to be good all week! LOL

For sure! LOL

Maybe we can find other trouble to get into; what do you think?

Read your mail. LOL!!!

[Billie]

Thank you, feiny. It was a terrible way to be awakened.

[Billie]

Mutual Admiration Society, dan and his angel! :)

[Billie]

Hi, Julie - thank you for the gorgeous eagle and your story and for you. :)

[Pippin]

hank You, I'll send a letter via frepmail to Valerie and Flyer and Lodwick.

[Billie]

Hi, Mixer - I almost didn't recognize you without your signature. :) Thanks for your post - I always knew you had another side besides the crazy, mixed up side. :)

[Billie]

I knew your remembrance would be written this well, Dave - detailed, yet poignant.

[Billie]

That was very sweet - hope your numbness has worn off by now. :)

[Billie]

Marvelous!

[dutchess]

JohnHuang2 and billie. What a beautiful and touching tribute. I have dreaded this week...the stirring up of so many painful recollections...

The day for me started out with a very positive early morning meeting. On the way to the office I stopped at a drycleaners and the owner, a woman about my age,happened to be there. It had been months since I had seen her and we chatted for about a half and hour. When I got in the car all I heard on the radio was "OH MY GOD....OH MY GOD", it was the first live report of the hit. What was even sadder was Linda, the woman I had spoke to that day, lost her husband of 25 years in a motorcycle accident the following week (not his fault). We just lost another 40 year old this week, mother of two teenagers to a car accident and today, three children and two adults to a car/train accident. I tend to be very optimistic but right now life just seems so fragile.

I pray for all those who have suffered losses and that this week passes without incident. I especially pray for our president and family and his advisors. A true source of comfort is that "the BIG BOYS" are in charge....

[Billie]

Thank you for your story - yes, it was more than an attack on America - much more. Much of the world grieved with us as though it had happened to them.

[Pippin]

you have mail! =^)

[Flyer]

YOU have mail!

[Militiaman7]

[Pippin]

you have mail! =^)

[PoorMuttly]

May God bless you, worf, your family, town and country.

We in New York City are so grateful to you both...and will Never, Ever forget...and we will speak of you, and our gratitude to all generations to come.

We promise you...in the blood of those who passed from us that day.

Thanks again.

-PM

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Thank you for this beautiful tribute. I'm in tears, too.

I came from watering our floor's single, scraggly tree... a duty shared by neighbors, turned on the news to see a single plane...a small plane the announcer's first thought, 'probably accidentally' flew into the WTC...because who could imagine that anyone could be so cruel as to intentionally murder thousands of innocent people.

Now we know. For those who still question the existence of evil, we can pray....and hope that our pastors rise up stronger and louder to lead their flocks.

One week later, I watered our tree with tears pouring down my face....shocked at the simple trigger of that act...and cried for those who lost loved ones, watched the horror, and carried the weight of the civilized world on their shoulders in the White House....and for us all.

There were no Democrats or Republicans those first weeks following 9-11. My brother even spoke of attending church...but the press soon rose up in a chorus of anti-American arrogance, victimhood and ignorance...eyes, as always, on the prize...the power, the party.

[Dubya]

Good Picture thanks

[Species8472]

Thank you for the wonderful thread. I will not forget September 11 as long as I live. Nor will I forget the 350 brother firefighters lost in this despicable act.

A FIREFIGHTER'S GLOVES

  A Firefighters Gloves hold many things
  From elderly arms to a kids broken swing
  From the hands they shake and the backs they pat
  To the tiny claw marks of another treed cat
  At 2 am they are filled with the chrome
  From the DWI who was on her way home
  And the equipment they use to roll back the dash
  From a family of 6 she involved in the crash

  The brush rakes in spring wear the palms out
  When the wind does a "90" to fill them with doubt
  The thumb of the glove wipes the sweat from the brow
  Of the face of a firefighter who mutters "What now"

  They hold inch and three quarters flowing one seventy five
  So the ones going in, come back out alive
  When the regulator goes; then there isn't too much,
  But the bypass valve they eagerly clutch

  The rescue equipment, the ropes, the C-collars;
  The lives that they save never measured in dollars
  Are the obvious things firefighters gloves hold
  Or, so that is what I've been always told

  But there are other things Firefighters Gloves touch
  Those are the things we all need so much

  They hold back the rage on that 3 am call
  They hold in the fear when your lost in a hall
  They hold back the pity, agony, sorrow
  They hold in the desire to "Do it tomorrow"

  A gloves just a glove till it's on firefighters
  Who work all day long just to pull an all-nighter
  And into the fray they charge without fear
  At the sound of a "Help" they think that they hear

  When firefighters hands go into the glove
  It's a firefighter who always fills it with love
  Sometimes the sorrow is too much to bear
  And it seeps the glove and burns deep "in there"

  Off comes the gloves when the call is done
  And into the pocket until the next run
  The hands become lonely and cold for a bit
  And shake just a little thinking of it

  And they sit there so red eyed with their gloves in  their coats
  The tears come so fast that the furniture floats
  They're not so brave now; their hands they can't hide
  I guess it just means that they're human inside

  And though some are paid and others are not
  The gloves feel the same when it's cold or it's hot
  To someone you're helping to just get along
  When you fill them with love, you always feel strong

  And so when I go on my final big ride
  I hope to have my gloves by my side
  To show to St. Peter at that heavenly gate
  Cause as everyone knows, firefighters don't wait.

  Thank God.