I don’t know any of the people that died during the attacks of September 11th 2001 but I feel spiritually connected to them. I went down to New York to debrief and support Police Officers after 9/11. Two stories stand out for me. One was of a female officer who was so close to her sister that the sister had agreed to carry her baby for her as she was infertile. Her sister talked to her from the top of one of the towers as the flames were melting the roof. This poor woman was so fully immersed in her grief and trauma from the incident that she was unable to function or make meals for her children. Her workplace was not supporting her to take time off from work to get herself sorted out. (They probably feared everyone wanting to take time off as they had double shifts to work to do doing their regular jobs and cleaning up the debris.) I tried to advocate for her and they backlashed at me. She was so frustrated that she blew a gasket and quit……which was probably better than internalizing the anger and sinking deeper into a depression. The other story was of an officer who had witnessed multiple atrocities and had decided as a result of what he’d witnessed that he was going to choose to invest more love and appreciation into every day that he had with his wife and children. Both of these stories are filled with trauma and grief and yet the empowerment and resilience of these two amazing officers is what has stayed with me. Every day our First Responders run into burning buildings, stop criminals, save our lives at accidents and I feel grateful for them. Lately, we have been seeing them in pictures of the Syrian crisis helping the refugees. Recently I learned that there were over 200 Firefighter suicides in North America last year and 148 Line of Duty deaths. This is 6 times higher than the national average. Say thank-you to anyone you know who is a First Responder whenever you think of it. They are there for us when we need them the most. And especially remember them on September 11th. They put their lives on the line for us and they deserve our gratitude
I don’t know any of the people that died during the attacks of September 11th 2001 but I feel spiritually connected to them. I went down to New York to debrief and support Police Officers after 9/11. Two stories stand out for me. One was of a female officer who was so close to her sister that the sister had agreed to carry her baby for her as she was infertile. Her sister talked to her from the top of one of the towers as the flames were melting the roof. This poor woman was so fully immersed in her grief and trauma from the incident that she was unable to function or make meals for her children. Her workplace was not supporting her to take time off from work to get herself sorted out. (They probably feared everyone wanting to take time off as they had double shifts to work to do doing their regular jobs and cleaning up the debris.) I tried to advocate for her and they backlashed at me. She was so frustrated that she blew a gasket and quit……which was probably better than internalizing the anger and sinking deeper into a depression. The other story was of an officer who had witnessed multiple atrocities and had decided as a result of what he’d witnessed that he was going to choose to invest more love and appreciation into every day that he had with his wife and children. Both of these stories are filled with trauma and grief and yet the empowerment and resilience of these two amazing officers is what has stayed with me. Every day our First Responders run into burning buildings, stop criminals, save our lives at accidents and I feel grateful for them. Lately, we have been seeing them in pictures of the Syrian crisis helping the refugees. Recently I learned that there were over 200 Firefighter suicides in North America last year and 148 Line of Duty deaths. This is 6 times higher than the national average. Say thank-you to anyone you know who is a First Responder whenever you think of it. They are there for us when we need them the most. And especially remember them on September 11th. They put their lives on the line for us and they deserve our gratitude
D'Iberville, California firefighter Casey Lessard holding cellphone to young crash victim so she could watch “Happy Feet”
Sgt. Major Mehmet Ciplak, Turkish police officer attending to 3-year old Alan Kurd
Thank you!
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