Before The Rain...

Years ago, President Kennedy gave us great advice.  Be prepared before you need to be. On the 13th anniversary of September 11, I have at ask are you prepared for another crisis? 

Watching 9/11 and Katrina happen up close and personal after moving to Texas I can say without fear of contradiction, most of us are still under-prepared in the event of  an emergency.

Are you ready, do you have your emergency kit ready to go and ready for transport if you were forced to evacuate suddenly?  This year I am providing a list of essential equipment every home should have.  This does not include the gallon of water per person per day requirement either so start collecting and get to it.

These buckets are not hard to do by yourself and should disaster strike could give you the ability to take care of yourself until emergency responders can.  Help us, help you...fix the roof before the rain.

General - This list contains items that can routinely be found at your local hardware store such as Lowes or Home Depot.

• glow sticks
• flashlight
• liquid candle
• matchbooks
• mylar thermal blanket
• hand warmers
• AM/FM radio
• whistle and lanyard
• sewing kit
• blank notebook
• pencils
• extra batteries (for flashlight and radio)
• zip ties
• P-38 can opener
• trash bags
• N95 dust masks
• duct tape
• small tarp
• paracord
• safety goggles
• split leather gloves

First Aid - these are mostly available at any CVS or Walgreens.  In addition to these kits, I encourage you to consider personal radiation dosimeters and potassium iodide.  If you live near an area that could have a niclear/radiologic emergency these can be helpful as well.

• basic first-aid guide
• moist towelettes
• antiseptic towelettes
• latex gloves
• acetaminophen (Tylenol)
• ibuprofen (Advil)
• aspirin
• diphenhydramine (Benadryl)
• loperamide (Imodium A-D)
• burn cream
• sting relief towelettes
• hydrocortisone cream
• triple antibiotic ointment (Neosporin)
• cough drops
• earplugs
• instant ice pack
• tweezers
• nail clippers
• scissors
• digital thermometer
• cotton balls
• waterproof adhesive tape
• gauze rolls
• gauze pads
• moleskin
• band-aids
• butterfly bandages
• ace bandage
• triangular bandage
• hand sanitizer
• Q-tips
• petroleum jelly

Hygiene - everything on this list can be found at either CVS, Walgreens, or Walmart.

• bar soap
• kleenex
• floss
• baby shampoo
• hand lotion
• sunscreen
• toothpaste
• toothbrushes
• feminine hygiene pads
• comb
• toilet paper
• washcloths

Planning

Benjamin Franklin said "failing to plan is planning to fail."  I do not know the situation upon which he offered this witticism, but it is apropos for me today.

Next week is the 13th anniversary of 9/11 and as I consider my work for Never Forget Foundation, I am still being asked which schools and where I will be at as my itinerary is put together for me.  I am amazed by the details that go into whether or not we speak at a given school or attend a particular event, but that is what life is I guess...jumping from one event to another and hopefully planning ahead for the contingencies at each location.

In any case, it i keeping me busy as I get to consider opportunities and say yes or no while figuring out will I have time to grab something to eat in between event after event sequentially so that we can make the most of limited time.

In any case, I hope you are considering your remembrance of 9/11, even if you do not have the planning that goes with.  Obviously it is a critical date for me, but I hope we do not let it just become another day on the calendar.

Foreign Policy Freefall

 Free fall.  That was the description that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers used when commenting on the President's foreign policy.  Senator McCain (his 2008 opponent) was hardly kinder when he said President Obama was in denial or overwhelmed.  Perhaps the most damning criticism though came from Senator Diane Feinstein, the Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman, who said Obama was "too cautious" when dealing with ISIS.

These statements by senior Congressional leadership are a bipartisan slamming of President Obama's hopes and dreams that the world will magically right itself.  Mr. Obama seems to have missed the boat when it comes to the fact that Hitler did not accidentally commit suicide after trying to take over the world.  It happened because thousands of lives confronted evil directly.

Mr. Obama seems to think the Cold War just had a course, like the arc of a pendulum, and eventually everything would be good again.  He gives no credit to the Reagan peace through strength initiatives and instead gives away American technology to those who would harm us with it.

The mainstream media gives Mr. Obama tons of credit for the capture and killing of Osama bin Laden, but was this really that amazing a feat?  Even Bill Clinton considered a strike on bin Laden, but chose against it because of the possibility of local civilian casualties.  Whether or not those stories are true or not, in the post 9/11 world, who would not have been willing to launch an attack against bin Laden?

The point is Mr. Obama has again and again missed the mark on foreign policy issues except pulling the proverbial trigger on Osama bin Laden. That is it.  Otherwise his foreign policy appears disconnected and ineffective.

Senator Robert Mendez noted that in Ukraine the Russians were carrying out an invasion.  Rogers echoed those comments noting that the Russians weren't on a "sight seeing tour."

President Obama threw down the gauntlet against Syria with respect to the use of chemical weapons and they crossed the line.  Obama did nothing showing his lack of self respect and losing respect across the world, but worse was the initial line as it appears Basher al-Assad is the safer bet in Syria.

It appears the President has zero plan for what to do with the Israeli-Gaza conflict that is now in a cease fire after it appears Hamas has run out of rockets.

The President and his team have completely underestimated  the intensity of ISIS and because of their immigration strategy has no idea if they are streaming across the southern US border.  Even David Cameron has said he needs a new law allowing police to seize the passport of ISIS fighters.

Meanwhile the President plays golf.  I hope for his sake, his putts sink as well as his foreign policy positions.  I just hope the country does not follow suit.

The Citizenship Of Workplace Violence

The Army psychiatrist, Nidal Hasan, accused and convicted of the "workplace violence" murders of thirteen employees by the US Govenment has now asked to become a citizen of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

At the time, many were outraged that Hasan's crimes would be considered an act of workplace violence instead of the terrorism they clearly were.  the US government demurred and chose to not admit this was another act of terrorism on US soil or they would have had to offer up Purple Hearts to those wounded by this act of terrorism.

While the US Department of Homeland Security continues to worry about the domestic terrorism that Christian conservatives who want to practice their faith might bring, they are actively missing acts of domestic terrorism being committed by persons like Mr. Hasan or the Americans who have died and who continue to fight overseas for ISIS.

It might seem that our work is only beginning when it comes to terrorism.

Ground Zero Victory

Forgive me that I do not understand atheists and the offense they take at other people's religion.  If you believe there is no God, why are you offended that I have one?  If you are sure that you are right, really you must simply look at me as childish.  If I am accused of having a child like faith in my Lord and savior, so be it.

Well, a similar message was given earlier to the atheists who are "offended" by the Ground Zero Cross.  What about the Cross violates your rights the federal appeals court asks as it should.

If indeed, atheists believe there is no God then the two steel beams should be regarded as just that.  Together they are certainly no worse than some of the other "art work" eyesores that seem to populate downtown neighborhoods across the United States.

If on the other hand, they are admitting that they have a deeper issue, one that requires reflection, and that the Ground Zero Cross represents something more.  Well, that is something else entirely.  It is at that moment that the atheists who brought the suit should consider their own issues of morality and life.  Perhaps their suit is an admission that the Cross does represent something more than downtown art work and if that is the case, can they truly call themselves atheist anymore?

In any case, if my choice is being on the side of God or believing Earth is the creation of gas, I will take God's side as I remember the movie Oh God and suspect George Burn's lines about finding the theory offensive to be true.  In any case, score a victory for the cross it looks like on this one.

Milestones

So almost two weeks ago it was time to celebrate.

Yes, it was a birthday, but due to travel schedules and life, the birthday party was later in the week or was it?  Ash Wednesday, my birthday, was full of presents as was the week.


So...first off, work.  I am required to obtain my certified flight paramedic credential.  I have more than a year to complete it, but it is done already.  I worried when I was told that a small envelope had arrived for me at home the first day I had left for my most recent conference.

A small envelope?  A small envelope is the same thing as college...thanks, but no.  A small means a letter without patches and pins and such, i.e. a "thank you for attempting to pass the test, but your knowledge base is what we call the small size of tiny" letter.  Instead it was a breakdown of my scores with the magic word - passed - on it.  How in the world did this happen?

I'm not sure, but Hallelujah!

Of course if I am being religious I have to note a gift I received as well.  I carry with me a 9/11 rosary when I work.  It is one of those things you do to both remember the past, as well as your own, and an item that provides me hope and determination for the future.  Recently my parish priest joined several other Anglican Ordinariate priests in a pilgrimage to Rome.  My darling girl decided that perhaps our parish priest, Father Timothy, might have the opportunity to have my rosary blessed by Pope Francis.  It was.  To think, the item in which I find my strength, that lies in my breast pocket when I work to ease the suffering of the ill and the injured was blessed by the successor to St. Peter I feel more energized than ever.

Pope Francis has called on us to serve those in need and I always thought I had, but now I find myself wanting to do more...to try more...to anything to succeed.

My birthday came and went without much fanfare - again work and life did not so much get in the way as make it a non-priority - but the milestone birthday was marked by both a personal and professional success that I am not sure I earned.  Even passing the FP-C test I feel was ordered for me as I know I still have so much to learn.  How then can I have had this success laid at my feet?  It still amazes me on so many levels.

However, the next step is I guess the one that matters.  Milestones can show us where we have been, and they may be markers for the future, but only if we enjoy the recent view long enough to start the journey towards the next one.

Hold The Ones You Love...When You Can

Amazing. Thank you Mr. Hanks and thank you Thomas Horn and thank you Sandra Bullock.

Perhaps it is my connection to September 11 that I get this movie and enjoyed the chance to watch it again.  It came out nearly two years ago and maybe it is still working in EMS response and public safety that this movie speaks to me.

Tom Hanks again and again seems to make me understand complex issues better than I did.  This one makes me think of the times all the people we meet or who we know in our lives who we never say thank you to enough or I enjoy working with you or those nasty words: "I love you".

This movie reminds me that today is the day to say those "I love yous" and regardless of the critics, I give it five stars as a reminder that tomorrow is unpromised. Today is all you have and it would be best to use it to your ability.

I am not suggesting that days should be used for nothing, but personal recreation, but the commodity that can not be returned is time. Once it is spent, it does not return and time that can heal all wounds is terribly unforgiving. Missed baseball games will never be caught again. Missed third grade plays will never be played again and so this movie hopefully reminds us all that while we must move on from tragedy when it strikes, another use of our time might be to go searching for those people who we can connect with on the most human of levels.

We must let go of the need to say "if only" at the unexpected funerals that come suddenly from national or personal tragedy. Too many times I have attended funerals for victims of all kinds of calamity only to hear the wish lists rattled off like a Christmas list for God.

I do not want to wish. I want to go jump in rain puddles with my children. I want to protect them and tell them I love them today. I want go have an amazing meal with my wife and remind her why she is the girl I married so many years ago.

The movie's title is perfect. How loud do you have to be to understand love and be with your family while you can? How does the message get to you. Apparently for most of it, the message has to be extremely loud and incredibly close, but I got the message. Loud and clear.

9/11 - Twelve years later...

Today is always a raw day for me, but this year I have a distraction with the new job.  In the meantime, the Dallas Morning News posted the following that I had written for their Voices section:

Are you waving your flag? Today is Sept. 11, and I wave the flag today out of respect for my first-responder brothers in New York who died that morning racing up steps when others were running away.

 

Twelve years ago, I responded to the Pentagon after a unit from the fire department reported a plane down and heavy black smoke. I had a front-row seat to hundreds of deaths that day.

I’m a paramedic by both profession and avocation, so I’m not squeamish. When death happens, the talking heads talk and most of us watch, but not everyone. Some people act.

 

I have watched 9/11 be used by this group or that to make their political cases — for a bigger Transportation Security Administration, a more heavy-handed National Security Agency, for protections for Muslims, or whatever cause célèbre.

 

I watch as members of the media fall all over themselves to cover these machinations, and I think about a comment a friend made recently: We slobber all over the charismatic — the great stories — but not the good stories where people are doing important work without making it a show. It’s the workhorse vs. show horse argument.

 

Thirty years ago, when three homeless men in Dallas died after sleeping in large trash bins, many were horrified. But rather than lamenting their deaths and going about his own life, Jerry Hill, an Episcopalian priest, started asking how to help the homeless.

 

His was not a mission for cameras and applause, but he kept going anyway. Again and again, he kept going because he wanted to provide a safe place for those who were left behind on the street. He wanted no accolades or honors, but rather to provide a shelter where he could show his care for his brothers.

 

Like the fire service that works as a unit and as your second family, Hill enlisted the assistance of businessmen, other clergy and the community at large for what became the Austin Street Shelter. He built a team that consisted of people trying to make a positive difference. The shelter might be considered a testimony to one man’s quest to do a little good.

 

The apple, of course, doesn’t fall far from the tree. Hill’s son, Marty, is just as involved in the community. He is developing a center to help women with addictions.

In both cases I think of the race — or marathon — these men are running, trying to outpace such overwhelming forces.

 

When I think of 9/11, I think of Jerry and Marty Hill. I also think of Bob Schiavone, a former New York firefighter who now manages high school programs for adults in Los Angeles. The flag he waves is for the challenges he is fighting today, and he does so quietly, respectfully.

 

These men remind me of former Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who said, “Do a little bit of good wherever you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”

 

When you wave flags this week, I hope you will think about how you can be of service to your community. What tragedy, big or small, can you help lessen?  There are flags to be waved, but they should wave with dignity for the races yet to be run, races in your community.

 

Are you up for it?

For now, I hope those lost will be mourned and remembered and that we are each up for the next task at hand.