9/11 Story - No Greater Love....

[Shamgar]

Most of the conservative talk radio shows today will pay tribute to the heroes of 9/11. I am sure everyone here has listened and heard many times the numerous acts of courage and sacrifice that took place on that day.

One of the stories re-told this morning is of the quadrapalegic gentile man who worked in one of the towers. He was accompanied by his nurse every day.

While the building was burning and they both were realizing there was no way he was going to get out of the building, a co-worker, who happened to be Jewish, told his nurse to go ahead and escape, that he would stay with the man. The nurse left and the Jew and the gentile both died when the building collapsed.  The man in the wheelchair could have easily died a horrible and terrifying death, all alone for those last few and very long minutes of his life, but another man stayed and gave his own life to provide support and comfort to another human being. 

They overcame the tragedy. They were not victims, they are heroes. Together we can beat these evil muslim scum. I know that there is not much trust of the gentiles, but there is a new dawn every day.

"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends."  John 15:13

[mord]

Yes i heard this it's a true story the man was orthodox Jewish 



http://www.newmobility.com/articleViewIE.cfm?id=461   










September 11, 2001: A Day to Remember
feature article 1
November 2001
September 11, 2001: A Day to Remember
By Josie Byzek and Tim Gilmer
Here are the stories of two men, Ed Beyea and John Abruzzo--both wheelchair users--who were working on separate floors of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. True to the human drama of that day, one lived and one died, but their stories stand as a tribute to the friends and coworkers who risked their lives to help them.

 
John Abruzzo with the EVAC+CHAIR he rode to to safety from the 69th floor of the World Trade Center.
Ed Beyea, 42, had just celebrated the 20th anniversary of his diving accident. Many of us do it--look back and celebrate how far we've come. Beyea, a C3 quad, had logged 14 years at Blue Cross/Blue Shield since his injury and was now a high-level program analyst working on the 27th floor of One World Trade Center.

Abe Zelmanowitz, 55, also a programmer, had joined the office two years after Beyea was hired. He was the kind of person who always sought a common bond with people. The two became fast friends. "They were very, very close, sharing their love of music and books, trading back and forth," says Abe's sister-in-law, Evelyn. Abe, a single man, lived in the basement of his brother Jack and Evelyn's home. On the Sabbath he would walk from one end of Brooklyn to the other to check on his elderly father. After his father died at 94, his mother moved in with the rest of the family.

Beyea had found his niche in society and enjoyed the company of close friends. Following his accident, he had attended a computer skills program for people with disabilities in Manhattan. Big corporations like Blue Cross/Blue Shield were interested in hiring graduates of the program.

Often, after work, the two would hang out at Beyea's apartment. Irma, 68, Beyea's daytime aide, would be with them. Beyea, says Irma, loved a good Cuban cigar. "He knew how to enjoy life. He was in pain every day, but he never took more than one Tylenol. He didn't dwell on the pain." Zelmanowitz rigged up a custom cigar holder for his friend. "Ed would reach down to the holder and pick up the cigar in his mouth very gently," Irma says. "He was a happy man, smiling and telling jokes."

Sometimes the two would meet after work with Manny, another friend, and go get a beer. Every three months the four of them--Ed, Abe, Manny and Irma--would go out to dinner. The men would take turns picking up the tab, never skimping. On these special occasions, says Irma, "they ate only the best, always at a kosher restaurant. Whatever they wanted, they got."

* * *

Irma was in the bathroom by the cafeteria on the 43rd floor when she heard a boom and felt the building shaking. She thought it was an earthquake. By the time she and others had made their way out of the bathroom, water and debris covered the floor. "People just dropped their food on the floor and took off," she says. Smoke had already made its way to the cafeteria. She went down the north stairwell to the 27th floor and crossed over to the south side to find Beyea.

Zelmanowitz had just arrived at Beyea's side when a man approached and asked, "Can I help? Can I take you down the stairs?"

Beyea said no, he would wait. He was a big man--nearly 300 pounds, very difficult to lift. Irma knew he wanted to be carried properly so he wouldn't break any bones, which had happened before. "He needed more than one man to carry him," she says. "He needed at least two or three firemen. And knowing him, he wanted others to go first. He didn't want to be in the way. None of us were thinking then that the building might collapse."

Zelmanowitz volunteered to stay with Beyea, suggesting Irma leave because she was coughing. When she reached the lobby she found a fireman and told him where Beyea was. "Please take care of him," she pleaded. "He needs oxygen." Usually he required oxygen only when sleeping at night, but conditions were severe. The fireman said he would find him. A chain of men directed people outside. Irma got caught up in the crowd of people evacuating the building.

Back on the 27th floor, Zelmanowitz was talking on his cell phone, telling his family he was OK. His elderly mother pleaded with him to get out, but he was determined to stay by Beyea's side. He would wait with his best friend of more than 12 years.

* * *
In his address on the national day of prayer and remembrance, President Bush recognized the sacrificial devotion of Abe Zelmanowitz, saying, "One man who could have saved himself stayed until the end at the side of his quadriplegic friend." Soon the story spread around the world and returned to the Zelmanowitz family. "To find such goodness in the midst of evil," offered a man calling from Australia, "is like a ray of hope for humanity."

"His actions of that day were his actions of every day," says Esther Zelmanowitz, the wife of Abe's nephew. "He was an Orthodox Jew who read his Bible, attended synagogue regularly and treated his friends the same regardless of religious or other differences." Beyea was a Christian.

[zachor_ve_kavod]

Many of these personal stories are very moving.  As horrendously evil as those muslims were who caused 9/11, I prefer to think of those "ordinary" people, who knew that by trying to save lives they were going to forfeit their own lives.  It was more important to them to save strangers than to get out and live themselves.  On that day, we saw the absolute best and worst of humanity, and everywhere in between.  The stories of those who courageously gave their lives for others should instruct the rest of the America-hating world what it truly means to be an American.  There is a type of brotherhood in America not found anywhere else.