I’m not a melancholy man, nor do tearjerkers manage to manipulate me. One thing, though, one thing, no matter the story, will blindside a raw weakness in me and crack the stoic.
The last full measure.
Whether it’s the regiment of black Union soldiers, silently marching to their willing deaths on the beach, willing to die to prove to everyone that they are worthy of humanity not slavery, and the white soldiers, the ones who depraved them, realizing what they’re about to do and spontaneously snapping to a salute.
Whether it’s the metal man created for malevolence but forgetting and learning from a boy to be more than tool, the metal man hunted without mercy by those who fear him and in so doing launch their own destruction to rain down on them…it is the act of the metal man, shaken from his anger, to smile, turn, and fly into the annihilating rain to save everyone in exchange for himself, joyfully calling out his ad hoc hero’s name: “Suuuuperman.”
The tears flow.
Six years ago today, malevolence fell on us, sending thousands to their deaths in New York and Washington, DC. Six years ago, I drove by the Pentagon 10 minutes before it was hit, only to helplessly watch the television with most of my coworkers as the towers fell.
Within the horror, heroism bloomed. Firefighters, police, and emergency workers responded, many coming in off-duty. They chose this. They chose this life, they chose this moment. But an old wartime saying hammers the reality home: Real heroes never come home.
They give up their life so that another may live.
The people on Flight 93 understood. They and those who chose to enter the burning destruction, full knowing the end would come without warning but also knowing others would die if they didn’t, they understood what they had to do, and what awful but awesome trade they had to make. One life for another.
Today, tomorrow, forever, that is the ultimate lesson of September 11. It was a lesson that propelled strangers to come after the fires were out to dig through the wreckage on a faint hope more were alive. It was a lesson that fueled unrivaled donations to the American Red Cross and other emergency organizations. It was a lesson we should never forget: That the ultimate gift we can give is of ourselves.
Tonight, in the quiet night, the painful memory of that day perhaps is dulled, scabbed over by time. But then I think of the heroes, the real heroes, glancing up at the hell above them, yet still going in. And the tears flow.
Showing posts with label firefighters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label firefighters. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Heroes Among Us
So Gypsy (*ahem* Wonder Gypsy Without-Pushup-Bra) posts a superhero personality quiz by way of The Film Geek. So, of course, I do it.
And I turn out to be Easy Reader's sidekick. Awesome.
As a kid weened on Saturday morning Filmation and The Electric Company, Spider-Man was my favorite comic hero. Given all the other cool choices around, it was no contest.
I'm sure every comic book chronicler will be happy to tell you--Spider-Man was a hero with problems just like us. He wasn't a god-like Man of Steel, nor was he a rich gentleman with every gadget known to humanity. He didn't have just one cool power like The Flash, nor did he spend his days leadng a bunch of other supers like Captain America. Spidey was Spidey--an average kid (later, Joe) who just happened to be a hero with amazing strength, the ability to climb walls before Velcro, and a few toys he built from odds and ends. To comic book readers, he was closer to them than anybody else, and the problems that Peter Parker faced in his everyday life were much worse than theirs. I mean, who else has a boss who not only rides you everyday and fires you every other, but also uses your best work to make your own life harder?
Still, the thing I loved the most about Spider-Man was that the hero was the alterego. In Superman, Clark Kent was a guise with glasses, Supes pretending to be a somewhat bumbling reporter. Bruce Wayne was an act; the Batman was the personification of Wayne's true soul. But in Spider-Man, the real hero was Peter Parker; he just happened to swing around town in red and blue pajamas once in a while. That's what the stories were about, and that's what Sam Raimi got so right in the first movie--the story of Spider-Man is a story of sacrifice, of how somebody decides to use his special abilities to help others and the cost that selflessness takes on his life and loved ones. A cost Parker doesn't want M.J. to bear.
Now you know what it's like to be a fireman, or a policeman, or a rescue worker.
My father and his father were volunteer firemen for the Germantown Volunteer Fire Department in Danbury, Connecticut. I remember going to the department's Christmas party every year as a kid, getting to climb up on the trucks and later watch Santa come in on top of another one, which always was mysteriously missing from the firehouse. A fireman was one of the first things I wanted to be, but I never could because of my eye problems back then. I always remembered them, though, especially what they do for us.
What many people forget is that many if not most firefighters have families. Wives, husbands, children...they're the ones most affected by the selflessness, but they accept it, maybe even understand it. They're also the ones who get left behind when their loved ones never come home. And that's the cost of great responsiblity.
Over in the right column, you'll see a few links. With one, you can go and create your own superhero, complete with amazing powers and strength. With another, you can go to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, where those who through amazing strength gave the last full measure for someone they probably didn't know.
And that's a true superhero. One among us.
Your results:
You are Spider-Man
You are intelligent, witty,
a bit geeky and have great
power and responsibility.
Spider-Man 85%
Superman 80%
The Flash 70%
Green Lantern 70%
Robin 68%
Supergirl 65%
Hulk 55%
Wonder Woman 50%
Catwoman 35%
Iron Man 35%
Batman 15%
Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz
Oh, and F.G.? Green Lantern's not that bad. You could have been Aquaman.
And I turn out to be Easy Reader's sidekick. Awesome.
As a kid weened on Saturday morning Filmation and The Electric Company, Spider-Man was my favorite comic hero. Given all the other cool choices around, it was no contest.
I'm sure every comic book chronicler will be happy to tell you--Spider-Man was a hero with problems just like us. He wasn't a god-like Man of Steel, nor was he a rich gentleman with every gadget known to humanity. He didn't have just one cool power like The Flash, nor did he spend his days leadng a bunch of other supers like Captain America. Spidey was Spidey--an average kid (later, Joe) who just happened to be a hero with amazing strength, the ability to climb walls before Velcro, and a few toys he built from odds and ends. To comic book readers, he was closer to them than anybody else, and the problems that Peter Parker faced in his everyday life were much worse than theirs. I mean, who else has a boss who not only rides you everyday and fires you every other, but also uses your best work to make your own life harder?
Still, the thing I loved the most about Spider-Man was that the hero was the alterego. In Superman, Clark Kent was a guise with glasses, Supes pretending to be a somewhat bumbling reporter. Bruce Wayne was an act; the Batman was the personification of Wayne's true soul. But in Spider-Man, the real hero was Peter Parker; he just happened to swing around town in red and blue pajamas once in a while. That's what the stories were about, and that's what Sam Raimi got so right in the first movie--the story of Spider-Man is a story of sacrifice, of how somebody decides to use his special abilities to help others and the cost that selflessness takes on his life and loved ones. A cost Parker doesn't want M.J. to bear.
Now you know what it's like to be a fireman, or a policeman, or a rescue worker.
My father and his father were volunteer firemen for the Germantown Volunteer Fire Department in Danbury, Connecticut. I remember going to the department's Christmas party every year as a kid, getting to climb up on the trucks and later watch Santa come in on top of another one, which always was mysteriously missing from the firehouse. A fireman was one of the first things I wanted to be, but I never could because of my eye problems back then. I always remembered them, though, especially what they do for us.
What many people forget is that many if not most firefighters have families. Wives, husbands, children...they're the ones most affected by the selflessness, but they accept it, maybe even understand it. They're also the ones who get left behind when their loved ones never come home. And that's the cost of great responsiblity.
Over in the right column, you'll see a few links. With one, you can go and create your own superhero, complete with amazing powers and strength. With another, you can go to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, where those who through amazing strength gave the last full measure for someone they probably didn't know.
And that's a true superhero. One among us.
Your results:
You are Spider-Man
a bit geeky and have great
power and responsibility.
Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz
Oh, and F.G.? Green Lantern's not that bad. You could have been Aquaman.
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