For weeks and perhaps months after 9/11, the street side walls of practically every firehouse in Manhattan were covered with cards and letters, many of them written by children. You could walk from Ground Zero well up the length of the island and see them. In many cases the flutter of pinned up notes surrounded photographs of the fallen firefighters from that particular company.
The one I will always remember was the card with a drawing of the intact Trade Center Towers on each side. In between was a heart. Underneath was a message written in a child's hand:
Thank You For Saving Everyone
In many cases, of course, these heroes and heroines physically rescued no one. The leading group that went up the stairs of the second tower that was hit (the first tower to fall) all perished before they could lead a single person out. There was no time. Two made it up to the 78th floor elevator waiting area where the second plane had plowed directly through a crowd. There, they reported back on the conditions and comforted the shocked, injured and dying in the few minutes they all had left.
Just as as a stretcher can help to save a body, an act of love - received or given - can lead to the salvation of a soul.
They all died. But it is not unreasonable to believe that on the 78th floor that day, the actions of those brave men saved some. Not everyone but some.
Requiescat in pace.
Reprinted and edited from Save Versus All Wands, September 11, 2014.
I don't know if a comment can add anything to what you have said here. But it was very touching, and I, too, will continue to pray that those who died in service will, as you said, requiescat in pace.
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