A Much-Needed Reminder

Are You Kidding Me???

On this 10th anniversary of 9/11, I hope you agree that this is outrageous on so many fronts! (not sure of this message’s origin but it was sent to me by a friend, Bonnie O’Neil so she gets credit for it.)

Surely you’ve heard by now that NY Mayor Bloomberg is not allowing clergy at the upcoming 9/11 memorial event, but did you know that first responders, i.e. NYFD, are not as well?

As The Anchoress writes:
“When two hijacked, terrorist-piloted passenger jets were deliberately flown into the Twin Towers, in an act of war against our nation, the first recorded casualty was a Roman Catholic priest and NYFD chaplain – Fr. Mychal Judge – who had ridden to the burning towers, and blessed doomed firefighters, hearing last confessions on the way.

And while Judge’s body was being carried away from the catastrophe by the firefighters who loved him, and whom he loved, First Responders from all ranks, all units, all departments were heading toward that disaster area, not running away, intent on saving as many human lives as possible, even as they weighed the terrible odds. They went up the stairs, while office workers went down. Some of them were kissed by a blind man’s guide-dog, as they passed.

Of the First Responders, 343 members of the FDNY lost their lives. The NYPD lost 23. The Port Authority Police lost 37. Of the 2998 killed at Ground Zero, 403 of them were First Responders, and one of them was a priest. That’s what, about 12% of the total?”

Now, 10 years later family members of First Responders who died on 9/11, receive a slap in the face by their ‘city father,’ as family members of all those who were killed in the greatest attack on American soil will not hear the words of healing they still seek, as the pain of their losses become vivid again, from those called to speak them, the clergy.

Did they, or us for that matter, get through Sept. 11, 2001 and the days, weeks, and months that followed without prayer? I doubt it.

[Read “A Fireman’s Prayer.”]

And while the ceremonies are to be about those who lost their lives on that awful day, to exclude those who tried so hard to save lives – and for months after working to find the remains of the dead, is unspeakable.

For those who are unaffected by this stance, they are just not paying attention to what is happening in our nation. And that is as scary as Bloomberg’s position.

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Simply not a time for political correctness [in my outrageous opinion!]  Let us NOT FORGET and may we once again be the people we were on 9/12!