Tag Archives: implosion devices

Souls Passed Through Him

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Posted by on in Community, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Spiritual

September 11, 2016, Yarnell- I read, in this morning’s paper, about a Port Authority policeman, his experiences on September 11, 2001 and his wrenching aftermath- a life no one should have to live.  He spoke of being knocked to the ground, after the second plane hit, the tower fell, and “souls passed through me.”

I believe the last part, having experienced my wife’s soul filling our bedroom, as she prepared to leave for the next life, 5 1/2 years ago.  I know much of the rest: The buildings were physically hit by two airplanes; implosion devices, already in place since the towers were repaired after 1993, were triggered and  brought the towers straight down; dozens of people jumped to their deaths, to avoid being immolated; there are over a thousand for whom there has never been any identification or accounting, as to their fates.

Fifteen years does not erase the horror anyone felt that day.  Most, like me, watched incredulously, on television, as the engineers’ devices went off, automatically, saving tens of thousands more people from dying- as would have happened, had the buildings EXPLODED outward.  Just as those who were alive during the attack on Pearl Harbor still have nightmares, on occasion; just as walking through Gettysburg, Auschwitz, Valley Forge in winter, can still give the average soul and eerie feeling, so I was off to a shaky start, just from reading a post by a friend who was in the first (1993) World Trade Center bombing.

My resolution was to go to this serene town, 25 miles southwest of Prescott, and itself the scene of one of our state’s worst nightmares, on June 30, 2013, when 19 wildland firefighters died in the Yarnell Hill Fire.  I went to St. Joseph’s Mission and Retreat, and walked up the Stations of the Cross trail, revisiting another of history’s greatest horrors- the Martyrdom of Jesus the Christ.  This place brings peace, because the love I feel for Christ, and for His Father, is  primally soothing.  As always, the walk brought me to a centered place, as I recited some Baha’i prayers, words which Jesus Himself would have given His followers, had they been ready to receive.

Terrible things will ever plague humanity, in a harsh world.  Nonetheless, the Sacred Teachers are with us, and having felt Their presence, along this replica of Via Dolorosa, I am able to return to Prescott, and later, to Chino Valley- observing the birthday of a good friend.

 

The Road to 65, Mile 288: When Systems Fail

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Posted by on in impediments, Social

September 11, 2015, Prescott- I checked on my pay status, early  this morning, and found that the employer in question had not deposited my due payment.  So, after getting self together, I went to the office of my immediate supervisor, who looked into the matter and arranged for due payment for me, and several others who were likewise inconvenienced, either by a system glitch or by the negligence of clerks.

This being the fourteenth anniversary of the various attacks on U.S. soil, I think about systemic failures, large and small.  It’s quite clear that the New York attacks were the subject of chatter, days before they happened, but human error, or insouciance, led to a lack of defensive action.  Of course, implosion devices, installed during the Clinton years, led to the collapse of the Twin Towers, rather than an outward explosion, which would have compounded the deaths and destruction in lower Manhattan.  That is no comfort at all for the thousands of families affected, in perpetuity, by the horror of that day, and its subsequent days of loss and suffering.

The other two major events of that day seem more surreal.  There is some doubt, in several circles, as to the truth in the matter of the Pentagon attack.  I have seen the Memorial, and am certain that all those who are remembered there, died a horrible death, aboard a plane.  Naysayers, who wonder if there was indeed a plane, are no help to the families who lost people that day.  The most likely scenario is that the plane vaporized, though the question remains:  “What was done with the wreckage?”  For reasons of national security, we may never know.

I have also been to the site of the Pennsylvania crash.  The Earth was scorched, and there were signs of a huge crash there, when Penny and I stopped there, in 2009.  There are sufficient voice recordings to back up the reports of that day.  The farmer, on whose land the crash occurred, had no reason to simply give up that section of his property to the U.S. Government, on a whim.  So, I am sure this event occurred, as reported.

There will always be failures of systems, large and small, whenever those in the system make errors in judgment, are fatigued, or get distracted. My father’s, and one of my high school mentor’s, exhortations to ALWAYS have a Plan B, have come in handy, time and again- and never more so than now.  We may very well face a time when government grinds to a screeching halt, the finances we take for granted dissipate, however temporarily, and we are left with whatever family or community we have had the wisdom to cultivate- for a fair length of time.

I am not a doomsayer, or one who believes in a cup half-empty, yet being prepared is more than a Scout motto.