CPU Help Blog

Today I received an email from a good friend of ours. It was a forward from a gentleman named Tim Brooks who is with the hospital in North Kansas City, MO. We all agree with what Tim said in his email, “…It just seems that we should not go through the day without honoring, remembering, being thankful for so many who rose to the need of such a terrible event…I could do no better, so (with [Gary's] permission) I offer it to you.”

Tim is a colleague of Gary Batchellor from Rome, GA who wrote the following for the staff at his hospital.

How Shall We Remember?

It has been 8 years since the Towers fell. Surely not that long ago…My own memory is still vividly etched…standing in the cafeteria with Dr. Todino watching a burning building on TV…muttering “What the…”as an airliner flies from the corner of the picture into Tower 2 and explodes! Then shock, sadness, rage, confusion!

I almost did not send this but then I was reminded that those things we both don’t want to forget and don’t want to remember have great power over our lives. Emotional issues not dealt with do not go away but may well come back in disguised and destructive form.

September 11, 2001 changed us all. As with other life-changing days, both good and bad, we cannot help but remember. We may not be able to choose what we remember because the event was so overwhelming. Most often the memories lose their immediate power, and some who read will have forgotten that today is September 11. But it will take only the slightest reminder to be “back then” again.

A phrase I first heard around the events of 9/11 was about those “who run toward the danger”. The reference was to the heroic firefighters, police, EMS, and everyday folks who risked their own safety to help others. Passengers on Flight 93 did the same in response to the cry “Let’s roll”. As we know only too well, many of those who ran toward danger died along with the victims they sought to help.

Of all the things that might be considered today, I would urge two positive answers to the question of “how” we should remember. While not denying the ongoing grief and threats, let us seize the opportunity to make this day one of: 1) honoring heroes who do indeed risk and go toward danger rather than saving themselves first and 2) remembering and seeking to renew a level of unity and cooperation that was the norm in those days immediately after 9/11.

In responding to Critical Incident Stress events like 9/11, the phrase is often used about “normal responses of normal people to abnormal circumstances”. One of the ways to heal from such events is to find meaning in them and to garner courage from having coped with them. May that healing be ongoing in us today.

Grace & Peace,
Gary
Gary Batchelor, D. Min., BCC
Chaplain, Floyd Medical Center
Rome, GA 30165
GBatchelor@Floyd.org