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> --Anthony
> Lugnet member #1312
> http://www.ozbricks.com/ikros
Anthony -
This was a very good post. Love your Ikros story too, btw.
I agree with the essence of what you said about death - most deaths are
cause for sadness, but some are tradgedies that exact additional anguish on
our souls.
I do disagree with you - at least in part - concerning those who died in the
destruction of the World Trade Center. Maybe not every death was "heroic" by
definition, but there were many heroes that died that day.
The countless stories about workers, from office managers to custodians -
regular people, just arrived at their job for another ho-hum 8 hours of the
daily grind - that leapt into action to help their co-workers and others
escape the Towers safely, going back up into dark, smoke-filled rooms
looking for anyone else who might be there awake, unconcious, injured or
just afraid - many of these people died for these efforts. They were in the
wrong place at the wrong time, but they did something while there: the right
thing. The heroic thing. They put their personal safety aside and tried to
help their fellow man.
The firefighters who (like the astronauts) were just doing their job when
they went up hundreds of feet in the sky in a dark, smokey tower of
concrete, glass and steel to try to GET CLOSER TO a searing, blazing fire,
engourged by a steady diet of jet fuel to rage at incomprehensible
temperatures, to see if there was any way to quell it and reach those people
trapped above, to see if there was anyone they could save - these were
incredibly courageous people. Many of them paid for this act of courage with
their lives.
By your own definition, heroes are people who "show great courage." These
people endangered themselves to save lives, and many died because of it. I
think then, you would agree, that there were plenty of people who died as
heroes on September 11th.
As for Columbia, I too am heartbroken. Going into space and coming back
safely is still at the edge of the capabilities of our civilization. It is
only through the often mundane but no less brilliant work of countless
scientists, technicians, bureaucrats and brave astronauts that we are able
to "slip the surly bonds of earth" from time to time.
That we have come to see space travel as a special but regular part of life
on earth is a testament to how far we have come on the backs of these
dedicated people.
That we are occassionally humbled by failure, and that such failure often
costs us the lives of some of our best and brightest, is a painful reminder
of the peril of discovery and how far we have to go.
Again, thanks for posting. It feels good to reflect on what has happened.
Danny Sullivan
San Francisco, CA
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Dreams will never die
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| I felt compelled to say this, I know that messages like this are a dime a dozen, so I really don't expect to be heard. I felt compelled to say what is in my heart regardless. I would have put this in an Off-topic, since it really doesn't relate to (...) (21 years ago, 2-Feb-03, to lugnet.general, lugnet.loc.us.tx, lugnet.org.us.texlug) !!
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