LESSONS LEARNED
Barbara Burton
Tonight I sit and ponder all that I have learned since September 11, 2001. I have learned that one hundred story buildings can be turned to powder and collapse if the fires burn hot enough. I have learned that we can blow up airplanes with passengers in the name of God. I have learned that even when facing certain death we can choose our own path; like jumping from a building instead of being swallowed by flames or wrestling with terrorists on a doomed plane to prevent more deaths on the ground. I have learned that the men and women of the police and fire departments are not only a little bit crazy but also brave and heroic. They courageously rush toward accidents and into burning buildings while everyone else is rushing out. Most of us think of police as �going after the bad guy� and of firefighters as �people who shoot water onto fires�. What I-- and the rest of America --have learned is that they are �citizen protectors� and �lifesavers�. We have heard so much about all of the lives lost, but in remembering what was lost we should remember that these heroic men and women saved twenty-five thousand souls that day. I have learned that it takes an extraordinary person to be an EMT or doctor or nurse. I can�t imagine what it feels like to be working in a hospital or driving an ambulance and hear that a catastrophe of this magnitude has just happened and is about to land on your doorstep. It takes true compassion, courage and skill to stand at the ready to mend what comes bursting through those emergency room doors. I have learned that even in the most diverse country in the world, with all of our arguments and different views on the world, the one thing that will draw us very close to each other is a common enemy. I have learned to fear something that I don�t recognize and that I can�t see coming. I have learned that you should never leave things unsaid to someone you care about or part ways in anger in hopes of patching things up later that day. I have learned that the same spirituality that has given me comfort can be so twisted that it can cause someone to kill indiscriminately.
I have learned that many of the things I thought were important before September 11, 2001 I now can�t even remember. I have learned that I shouldn�t assume that it will be there, but to always hope for a better and more peaceful tomorrow. |
![[Safe and Free: Safe and Free: Safe and Free in Times of Crisis]](https://www.aclu.org/graphics/safe.gif)
