It was a Stoic Look, and dare I say Stoic Feeling.

I, as many of you did, watched some of the footage broadcast this weekend of the events of September 11th, 2001. A lot of it was seen in the days, weeks, and months after that horrid day. However there was this one piece of footage that I personally had not seen. The first Tower had fallen, chaos had ensued, and even more reinforcements from the FDNY were on their way. They were riding into the area and listening to the radio traffic about their fellow fire fighters that were trapped and missing from the falling of the first tower. Most, if not all of these four truck loads of fire fighters all did the same thing when they arrived a few blocks away from the carnage, they dismounted the apparatus and turned towards the Twin Towers to see just to what severity the collapse was. Then they promptly went about their work of gathering tools, equipment and gear to start the long march towards the one Tower that was still standing. It was that walk that was the key in this film footage. There wasn’t any talking amongst them. There was no planning being discussed; they knew what they had to do without being told. There weren’t any smiles, no tears. There were no looks of bravery, no cowardly faces. No one hesitated, nor did they run towards the one remaining Tower. No one seemed mad, upset, or even perplexed. They simply walked straight ahead and no doubt in their mind knowing that if one could fall, its twin could to, and that’s where they were heading. They all had the same demeanor, and the same look. It was a stoic look, very stoic in fact. Every single person in the camera’s eye to either side of them along the streets as the camera lead them down the pavement had different looks about them. Some were visibly shaken, some were crying, some were in shock. There were looks of disbelief, looks of agony and anger, and looks of helplessness. Then there was this group of about 30 fire fighters right in the middle of the road, they were just stoic, steadily walking towards deaths door. Looking at the time table and their location they had about 12 blocks to walk and the last remaining tower would, unknown to them, fall to the ground in three minutes and 48 seconds from that very moment. They hadn’t made it to the Tower when it started its collapse and later footage would show this same group covered in debris white with ash and still underway towards their assignment. They were spared in the collapse and they still had a job to perform. There were many hero’s that day; fire fighters, police officers, secretaries, bosses, janitors, people walking down the street. Servicemen, Government Officials, and I even saw footage of a street vender giving his water away so people could get debris out of their eyes. There were many victims that day as well; men, women and children, fathers, husbands, mothers and wives; sisters, brothers and the list goes on. All of these people, and in fact a Nation were brought together by the selfless, shameful, unthinkable and horrid act of a group that doesn’t number near as many as those that were affected. I heard one reporter say “These people gave their lives for their country”. No that’s not what happened, their lives were abruptly and unjustly taken from them, and we should work each and every day to never forget that. There is a plaque on my wall in my office that says “Excellence – There is no higher honor than human service. To work for the common good is the greatest deed”. Those 3rd, 4th or 5th groups of responding fire fighters that day were exhibiting excellence for all to see. With all of the Monday morning arm chair experts in play there are a lot of should have’s, could have’s and would have’s. The fact is that this Nation took a sucker punch on September 11th 2001, its that plain and simple. To honor all of those that were lost on that day, and each day since as a result of those acts, we should at this point all strive towards Excellence as a Nation.