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THERE MUST BE SOMETHING MORE

© Joy Butler

It surely takes more than training to do what firefighters, medics, police officers, and so many others did during the attacks of last September 11th. Ignoring their own safety, they rushed toward the disaster when everyone else ran away. Even when the first tower collapsed, they kept going. Civilians risked their lives to help strangers in trouble. Passengers on one doomed plane, though resigned to their own death, took heroic steps to save lives on the ground. Those wonderful souls must surely have had concern, compassion, and courage, loyalty, selflessness, and a whole lot of heart. In the end, those are the things that really matter. Those are the qualities that draw us all into one soulhood, unify us, and keep us.

With the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on America closing in, we see those horrific scenes replayed on television, and I'm sure we are all doing a bit of solemn reflecting. It has been a year of grief and struggle for many, a year of disbelief and uncertainty for others. It has also been a year of contemplating what really matters in life, as we realized that, in the span of a few short minutes, those victims were directly faced with life and death decisions; many of them moral decisions.

We all heard stories of the guide dogs who, unwaveringly, led their charges down flight after flight of stairs to safety. Through deafening noise, black smoke, fuel fumes, shattering glass, fiery debris, intense heat, and choking ash, the screaming, pushing, shoving terror, through it all, Mike Hingson says of his yellow Labrador, Roselle, "She never hesitated. She never panicked."

Not so far away, Dorado, another guide dog, had been set free by blind Eduardo Rivera, who was resolved to his own death, but wanted to give his dog a chance to flee. Though unleashed, Dorado returned to Rivera's side, led him to an emergency exit, and nudged him down 70 floors through total, complete chaos.

Guide dogs are well trained and taught to handle obstacles and distractions, yet nothing could have prepared these two animals for a trip through the demolition of the New York World Trade Center. It takes more than training to ignore all instincts in the midst of panic. It takes more than training to make a moral decision to do what Roselle and Dorado and other rescuers did that fateful September 11th. This past year, I have concluded that there must be something more, and that these are the things that really matter.

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