Story of the Week, September 11, 2009 Remembering

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September 14, 2009

—All through this day, 9/11/09, I have tried to come up with a theme for our angel newsletter due today. It’s been difficult.

—I had the honor and privilege of being able to interview the last survivor of the World Trade Center bombing, whose story ultimately appeared in my book, IN THE ARMS OF ANGELS. At the point when she was discovered, the rescue workers had given up on finding any survivors, and were absolutely astonished when they came across this young woman, bruised and broken but alive. How had she survived those terrifying hours? By holding on to the hand of a man named Paul, she insisted, a man who kept her spirits up and encouraged her to keep calling for help. But there was no man anywhere in the pit where they finally found her—and no way for anyone to have gotten in or out. I could re-tell her story.

—During subsequent days, people wrote to ask, “Where were the angels in this tragedy?” And I was able to answer with conviction: “Right there. Right on the scene.” I knew this only because those with angel experiences came forward to share. A man who saw smoke breaking up as it ascended, and then saw each piece in the shape of an angel, carrying a human being home to heaven…a trumpeter playing at Ground Zero a few days later, attracting a curious crowd. And yet no one’s camera worked. No one there was able to get a photo…..A man who was escorted out of the building via a nearby stairway that he had never seen before… There are probably many stories like this. I could research one or two.

—Or I could tell all of you how meaningful that day was to me personally. The night before, at 11 p.m. our
daughter had given birth to our first grandson, and I was up practically the entire night thinking about him. The following day, as my husband and I drove to the hospital, we heard the news of the crashes. Of course, like everyone else, we did not know how far such horrors would spread. Was this unbelievable happening the end of the world?
When we finally arrived at the hospital, it was on lock-down, and for a moment I thought that we would not see this precious child, not today, not ever. But the reception room nurse took pity on us and let us in, one of so many kindnesses offered that day. It was when I held that little bundle that an the answer occurred to me, in a quote I’d heard: “A baby is God’s promise that life shall go on.” It was not the end of the world. And yesterday, in the midst of painful memories, we celebrated an eight-year-old’s special day. I could write about that.

But maybe, as we lower our flag to half-staff today, it’s enough to quote something from the angel book: “The future holds exceitement and opportunity. We may grow inwardly in new ways, emerge stronger, holier and more interested in ministering to the needs of others than to ourselves. We may learn that the people in our lives are far more important than any personal achievement or possession. Rabbi Harold Kushner once observed that all the complicated structuress we spend so much time and evergy creating are built on sand. “Only our relationships to other people endure. Sooner or later, the wave will come along and knock down what we have worked so hard to build up. When that happens, only the person who has someone’s hand to hold will be able to laugh.”

See you next time.