This date, for things large and small to me has to be about the worst.
Commuter plane crash in Buffalo, New York, 50 souls lost. A widow of a victim of 9/11, two band members of Chuck Mangione, just to name 3 people out of 50.
In Philadelphia, Officer John Pawlowski, 25, whose wife is pregnant with their first child was gunned down.
Police late last night said Officer John Pawlowski, 25, whose wife, Kim, is expecting their first child, was wounded after he and his partner responded to a report of a "fight on the highway" on Broad Street near Olney Avenue.
The fight turned out to be a confrontation between a cabbie and a man Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey described as a "thug" during a briefing outside the hospital. That briefing began with Ramsey saying: "It's my sad duty to inform you of the death of John Pawlowski."
Police said the gunman approached the cabbie and demanded money about 8 p.m. The cabbie warned he would call police and the man responded: "If you call the cops, I'm shooting you and the cops."
On another front, the entirely partisan Porkulus bill passed, and awaits Obama’s signature. All I can say on this is, I hope it works, I don’t think it has a snowball’s chance in hell of doing so, but I hope it works. The only other thing is this, Obama, Reid, Pelosi, Snowe, Collins, Specter. You have your fingerprints all over this. This bill is an abomination and if the founding father were alive they would spit in each and every one of your faces.
Side note, I am getting very disgusted with the continuous comparisons of Obama to first Lincoln, and now of all people, Reagan? There are little or no similarities between them. If anything you can only say that Obama is the anti-Reagan, which some on the left want, all I can say is I remember the Carter years, and I remember that Reagan fixed that problem, hopefully the next Reagan (in 2012) will have something left to be able to fix. As far as Lincoln and Obama, Lincoln freed the slaves, and Obama and his plans are making slaves of us all beholden to the Federal Government.
Last, on the scale of a minor blip on a gnat in the cosmos, today my wife’s company laid off roughly 20% of their workforce, and unfortunately my wife was one of the casualties. I guess I should be happy that Porkulus passed, since it is supposed to help families like ours. First off I don’t believe it will, second off, selling your soul to the devil is never worth it, no matter how sweet the deal seems at the time.
Within the last year we had grand plans, an addition to our house, finish landscaping, patio, deck etc. We, as always procrastinated, and when we did get moving and started looking at plans, talking to contractors, something really didn’t feel right. Here we are now, thanking God that we didn’t move forward with that, for now. In life, over the last 12 years I have learned that in general things happen for a reason. This has not always been my outlook, my religion came in the form of a different plane crash, Swissair 111. In that crash, among the 229 souls that perished night, was a husband, a father of three really great kids, and a dear friend. The entirely difficult lesson I learned that week was, first NEVER put off seeing friends and family, second the worst can happen to you, but it can also happen to those around you, when it does happen to those around you, quietly step in and do what you can. You can have no idea how much it means to a widow with three kids to just have someone to talk to, to scream to, a shoulder to cry on, someone to watch the kids while she goes somewhere to cry so they don’t have to watch their mommy cry. There is so much we can do, on our own, without being told or herded.
So what does all this mean? We are fine, and should be fine, my wife is a pretty damn smart cookie, she is pretty well known in her field, so hopefully even in this economy she’ll be back at it in short order. But like in all things we plan for the worst and expect the best, and this is no exception. We will examine all the options, and we look at this as a chance to revisit, “things happen for a reason”. What do we want to be doing, what can we change, how can we do better. If it weren’t so frightening, then it would be fun, but then that’s the definition of a good thrill ride isn’t it? Frightening and fun.
Say a prayer for the families and friends of the victims of the Buffalo crash. If you know anyone, even very casually that is directly involved, reach out, you would be amazed what a simple hug can do to help someone. Say a prayer for the crews that responded to the crash, that are tasked with investigating and cleaning up. I went to Peggy’s Cove after Flight 111 crashed, in part to be a courier, taking DNA samples to help with the identification of my friend, in part to help his family cope, in part because I felt I absolutely had to go (that week could be a book all by itself). My point is, the people that dealt with the crash, the locals, amazing people and to this day, every day they have the reminders of what happened right there. They smelled the fuel in the ocean and in the air as the Captain tried to dump fuel in order to make an emergency landing in Halifax, they went into the night to search for survivors, only to find splinters, the RCMP and Canadian Military found the wreckage, found the boxes, “recovered” the remains. I would be willing to bet serious money that many of these men and women are still having nightmares about what they saw and the work they did.
To the absolute credit of those wonderful people in Nova Scotia, families were treated with sincere love, remains were recovered and identified. The medical examiner at the time vowed to identify each and every person, and report to each and every family. He did that. An awful task but he took it upon himself and tried to help each and every family cope with their loss and find the beginning of the path that leads to healing.
People like this are around us every day, an ambulance or fire truck goes by you on the road, lights and sirens on. They do this for you, they do this for our children. Realize when faced with something like the crash in Buffalo, or Nova Scotia, they too are wounded, they take the wounds willingly. Recognize this, reach out, help them heal as well.
To the others that I know from her company, those that I’ve come to know vicariously through her employment of these last three plus years, to the ones that also received the dreaded visit or phone call, you are all among the best of the best, set aside your fear (not completely) and venture forth, know in your heart that you are THAT good.
One last note, to the ripple before the tsunami, JA, all I can say is I am quite impressed, and if you ask my wife that does not happen easily or often. All of my best wishes to the collective, the entire group, may success happiness and health follow you wherever you go.
/homily
