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The Creation of the Firefighter

When the Lord was creating Firefighters, he was into his sixth day of

overtime when an Angel appeared and said, "Your doing a lot of fiddling

around on this one."

And the Lord said "Have you read the specification on this person?

Firefighters have to be able to go for hours fighting fires or tending

to a person that the usual every day person would never touch, while

putting in the back of their mind the circumstances. They have to be

able to move at a second's notice and not think twice of what they are

about to do, no matter what danger. They have to be in top physical

condition at all times, running on half-eaten meals, and they must have

six pairs of hands."

The angel shook her head slowly and said, "Six pairs of hands...no way."

"It's not the hands that are causing me problems, " said the Lord, "it's

the three pairs of eyes a Firefighter has to have."

That's on the standard model? " asked the angel.

The Lord nodded. " One pair that sees through the fire and where they

and their fellow Firefighters should fight the fire next. Another pair

here in the side of the head to see their fellow Firefighters and keep

them safe. And another pair of eyes in the front so that they can look

for the victims caught in the fire that need their help."

"Lord" said the angel, touching his sleeve, " Rest and work on this

tomorrow."

"I can't, said the Lord, "I already have a model that can carry a 250

pound man down a flight of stairs and to safety from a burning building,

and can feed a family of five on a civil service paycheck."

The angel circled the model of the Firefighter very slowly, "Can it

think?"

"You bet," said the Lord. It can tell you the elements of a hundred

fires; and can recite procedures in their sleep that are needed to care

for a person until they reach the hospital. And all the while they have

to keep their wits about themselves. This Firefighter also has

phenomenal personal control. They can deal with a scene full of pain and

hurt, coaxing a child's mother into letting go of the child so that they

can care for the child in need. And still they rarely get the

recognition for a job well done from anybody, other than from fellow

Firefighters."

Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the

Firefighter. "There's a leak", she pronounced. "Lord, it's a tear."

"What's the tear for?" asked the angel.

"It's a tear from bottled-up emotions for fallen comrades. A tear for

commitment to that funny piece of cloth called the flag. It's a tear for

all the pain and suffering they have encountered. And it's a tear for

their commitment to caring for and saving lives of their fellow man!"

"What a wonderful feature Lord, you're a genius" said the angel.

The Lord looked somber and said "I didn't put it there."

Thought you might like it..................

We'll go forward from this moment

It's my job to have something to say.

They pay me to provide words that help make sense of that which troubles the American soul. But in this moment of airless shock when hot tears sting disbelieving eyes, the only thing I can find to say, the only words that seem to fit, must be addressed to the unknown author of this suffering.

What lesson did you hope to teach us by your coward's attack on our World Trade Center, our Pentagon, us? What was it you hoped we would learn? Whatever it was, please know that you failed.

Let me tell you about my people. We are a vast and quarrelsome family, a family rent by racial, social, political and class division, but a family nonetheless. We're frivolous, yes, capable of expending tremendous emotional energy on pop cultural minutiae -- a singer's revealing dress, a ball team's misfortune, a cartoon mouse. We're wealthy, too, spoiled by the ready availability of trinkets and material goods, and maybe because of that, we walk through life with a certain sense of blithe entitlement. We are fundamentally decent, though -- peace-loving and compassionate. We struggle to know the right thing and to do it. And we are, the overwhelming majority of us, people of faith, believers in a just and loving God.

Some people -- you, perhaps -- think that any or all of this makes us weak. You're mistaken. We are not weak. Indeed, we are strong in ways that cannot be measured by arsenals.

Yes, we're in pain now. We are in mourning and we are in shock. We're still grappling with the unreality of the awful thing you did, still working to make ourselves understand that this isn't a special effect from some Hollywood blockbuster, isn't the plot development from a Tom Clancy novel. Both in terms of the awful scope of their ambition and the probable final death toll, your attacks are likely to go down as the worst acts of terrorism in the history of the United States and, probably, the history of the world. You've bloodied us as we have never been bloodied before.

But there's a gulf of difference between making us bloody and making us fall. This is the lesson Japan was taught to its bitter sorrow the last time anyone hit us this hard, the last time anyone brought us such abrupt and monumental pain. When roused, we are righteous in our outrage, terrible in our force. When provoked by this level of barbarism, we will bear any suffering, pay any cost, go to any length, in the pursuit of justice.

I tell you this without fear of contradiction. I know my people, as you, I think, do not. What I know reassures me. It also causes me to tremble with dread of the future.

In the days to come, there will be recrimination and accusation, fingers pointing to determine whose failure allowed this to happen and what can be done to prevent it from happening again. There will be heightened security, misguided talk of revoking basic freedoms. We'll go forward from this moment sobered, chastened, sad. But determined, too. Unimaginably determined.

You see, the steel in us is not always readily apparent. That aspect of our character is seldom understood by people who don't know us well. On this day, the family's bickering is put on hold.

As Americans we will weep, as Americans we will mourn, and as Americans, we will rise in defense of all that we cherish.

So I ask again: What was it you hoped to teach us? It occurs to me that maybe you just wanted us to know the depths of your hatred. If that's the case, consider the message received. And take this message in exchange: You don't know my people. You don't know what we're capable of. You don't know what you just started.