Help Ground Zero

About two weeks after 911 Martin Re, President of LifeWay Counseling Centers, received a call from the Salvation Army. "Can you spare a few of your counselors to go to Ground Zero for a week to minister to and counsel the First Responders?" Marty called a few of us and the next day Dr. Gerry Kelly, Carla Faison, Steve Griebling and I were on a free flight to New York provided by Delta airlines.

Right after the 911 attacks I was numb with denial and unbelief. Then anger and fear set in with accompanying anxiety and feelings of helplessness. Thankfully the Lord allowed us to go and DO something. We could make a small difference in the lives of those front-line fire fighters, police officers, irone workers, EMT rescue workers, truck drivers, FEMA members, etc. They had been working around the clock for two weeks and headed for complete exhaustion, burn out and depression.

I had seen the photos on TV and in print media but was not prepared for the scene that confronted us. As we circled to land at Newark Airport the pilot flew directly over Ground Zero so we could all get a clear view of the destruction. Huge spotlights pierced the night and the dark smoke rising from the jet fuel still burning in the basement at 1800 degrees.

After a two hour ride to the Salvation Army camp deep within New Jersey, we had a brief sleep before going down to the headquarters where we were given an FBI examination and after passing a special photo ID card that allowed us to enter the Ground Zero area.

Gerry and Steve were assigned to the day shift from 1:00 PM until 1:00 AM and Carla and I took the next twelve hour slot. I had just returned from Singapore so my body was upside down anyway. I am so happy we were assigned to the night shift because that is when men can share deeply without fear of being seen or revealing too much. In the slowed down hours from 2:00 to5:00 AM, when darkness is deepest we listened to many grieving, deeply wounded tough guys who had lost best friends, neighbors and relatives to this absolutely senseless event.

One guy, a big, tough Italian from Staten Island, found out I was a "Man of the cloth" and a counselor and told me to sit down for a few minutes while he searched for a buddy who needed to see a minister. Tony finally found his buddy and brought him over to where I was sitting next to the morgue tent on a lawn chair and said, "Sit down Shaun. You need to talk with this guy."

For the next three hours I listened while Shaun spilled his guts about how angry he was. Thankfully, he did not want to get bitter toward the Muslims but he was tempted. " As a Christian I know I have to forgive but I am having a very hard time not wanting vengeance."

After the first hour or so Shaun finally revealed the root of the problem. His wife had been accosted by a Middle Eastern man who was still on the streets of New York. Now he discovered that Muslims had killed several thousand innocent people including many of his friends. Shaun was fearful that the anger might get the best of him and drive him to be vindictive.

We talked until he was satisfied that he could handle the stress and temptation. He came up with a partial solution and he was satisfied that our talk had helped. I prayed with the guys and the Captain called them to go investigate a problem area. As they left, Tony said, "I have always seen those Salvation Army kettles around on Christmas but I never knew what you guys did. Now I will tell all my family and friends to put something in the kettle."

This was his way of saying thanks so I nodded in appreciation and sent them off with blessings and peace. It helped me a lot too. I couldn't do anything about the 3000 men and women buried in the rubble but I could support the people who were picking up the pieces.