10 years ago I was working 3rd shift at USAirways. 3rd shift is weird. I could come home and eat a bowl of spaghetti, enjoy steak & beer, or go for a bowl of cereal. All seemed to fit because 3rd shift was so unnatural it made everything else natural.
I was asleep on the couch and Becky called to tell me an airplane crashed. While plane crashes are tragic and rare, they happen. As an "insider" we tended to watch them and follow them more closely. Sleep to my weary eyes was a more pressing need than watching news about a plane crash. And return to sleep I did.
She called back about 45minutes later and told me this looks more serious. I watched the news all the rest of that day. Numb is the best word to describe it. You wanted answers: who? why? where? how many? Is any of my family in danger?
Those answers would be filled in over the next few weeks and months but the real ache of "why" could still be lingering today. "Why" doesn't always get answered.
Andrew Peterson wrote "The Silence of God" out of that tragedy. It puts words to it better than I ever could. It still stands as one of my favorite songs.
So here 10 years out it is a time to remember. The world doesn't always make sense. There is evil in the world. Even tragedies have heroes. The tragedies don't define heroes it just helps us to see them; and they tend to be the people who defy the tragedy to just do what they do. Thanks to all police, firefighters, and military for doing what you do.
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