Starting
Point A hero because he told me not to be sad
By CHRISTOPHER de VINCK
This afternoon, in the English
office of the high school where I work as an administrator, one of my
colleagues said, Yesterday my 3-year-old grandson was stacking up his
Legos, and then he pretended that he crashed a plastic plane into the little
building he just constructed. How do we, as adults, explain to children
the images of evil they have been seeing for the past weeks? Perhaps by doing
what we have been doing since the beginning of our human existence: telling
stories.
Literature is filled with stories of courage, hope and dignity in
the face of all that is lost. Willa Cathers Antonia maintained her sense
of hope and goodness in the maul of the rugged and hostile prairies of
Nebraska. John Steinbecks Ma Joad tried to keep her family together as
they made their way through the Oklahoma dust bowl. Atticus Finch fought the
striking claws of racism as he defended Tom Robinson.
Another teacher later in the day said, as we stood in the hallway
between classes, My brother was on the 21st floor in 1 World Trade
Center. After the jet crashed into the floors above him, he quickly left his
office and began walking down the long stairwell. Soon enough, firemen, young
men in their 20s, were making their way up the stairs past him to tend to the
fire. My brother said that he and the others cheered the firemen as they rushed
upward. They were running up to their deaths, and my brother was running down
to life.
While I was preparing material for a new teacher, Gina Sudol, a
10th grade teacher, stepped into the office to get some books and said,
Im so tired.
Didnt sleep well last night? I asked.
Well, Gina said, My husband and I were watching
the news at 11 p.m., and a city spokesman was saying they needed clothes, food
and equipment. My husband turned to me, and I to him and we both knew that we
had to do something, so we drove to a 24-hour Home Depot and bought $700 worth
of shovels. We loaded them up and drove through the Lincoln Tunnel to the Jacob
Javits Center.
There were hundreds of people bringing things. A man stopped
us and said, Clothes around the corner. Food to the left. What do you
have?
We said we had shovels. Within seconds, it seemed, an Army
Humvee pulled alongside our car, and the shovels were immediately transported
from our car into the green military vehicle, and a soldier quickly drove off
towards the ruin of the World Trade Center.
For me, the most poignant story I heard in the aftermath of the
terrorist attacks were the words spoken between a husband and wife. As reported
in The New York Times, Lyzbeth Glick of Hewitt, N.J. spoke on a cell
phone with her husband, Jeremy, as his plane was being hijacked. Jeremy was
telling his wife that he and some others were going to try to overpower the
terrorists. He was a man who wouldnt let things happen,
Lyzbeth said. He was a hero for what he did, but he was a hero for me
because he told me not to be sad
Many years from now, todays children will be studying in
their history books about Sept.11, 2001. Let them read about a 20-year-old
fireman rushing up the stairs of the World Trade Center because he thinks he
might be able to save someone.
Let the children of the future hear the story of a suburban couple
who drove through the night with newly bought shovels in the hope that this
small act might make a difference in someones life.
Above all else, teach the children the story of the husband
telling his wife, Do not be sad. Well all go to our deaths
with lives lived, with regrets and joys, with sorrows and victories. So what do
we say to those we love when our lives are done, when all else is left behind?
We say, dear children, Do not be sad. For in those words are the
words of a human and spiritual hope that there is a place of joy either in the
memories of a life well-lived, or in the promise of a life that is still yet to
come.
In the end, Ma Joad, Antonia, and Jeremy Glick of Hewitt, N.J.,
were not deterred from the hope of joy and goodness. Do not be sad. n
Christopher de Vincks most recent book is Compelled
to Write to You. He is a public school administrator and lives in Pompton
Plains, N.J.
National Catholic Reporter, September 28,
2001
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