Grateful
for All That We Share
Rev.
Mark Stringer
First
Unitarian Church of Des Moines
11/18/01
Meditation
Creative
Spirit, Spirit of Life
Known
by many names spoken and unspoken
We
have gathered once again in this hall
A
hall holding the memories of similar gatherings
A
hall where sorrows have been spoken
Where
joys have been shared
Where
the planet has been honored and its inhabitants
remembered
We
have gathered once again in this hall
to share, to honor, and to remember…
the
blessings of our lives:
The
blessing of friends and family who love and
support us;
The
blessing of food and shelter which we may never
fully comprehend until they are no longer ours;
The
blessing of living in a country where we are free
to question our leaders and to participate in our
government;
The
blessing of this wondrous planet which every day
models for us resilience and beauty.
There
is so much for which to be thankful
In
the midst of this magnificent and wretched life…
Life
to which we cannot forever cling,
Life
where all that we hold most dear can be taken away
By
a sudden illness, or by a simple accident
Or
by a complex plot.
And
yet, there is still so much for which to be
thankful:
The
loved ones who remain…
The
ability to help and to serve…
The
chance we have each day to embrace our temporary
lives
By
contributing something positive
To
the lives of those who share our time on this
earth.
In
this season of gratitude
We
gather to share, to honor, to remember
And
to give thanks.
Now,
as we do each week,
Let
us offer to this hall
And
to each other
A
time of silence,
A
time to breathe together
The
breath of life that sustains us all.
(silence) Amen.
Story
In
an editorial from the September 26th
edition of the New York Times, Stephen Jay
Gould wrote:
“Good
and kind people outnumber all others by thousands
to one… Thus, in what I like to call the Great
Asymmetry, every spectacular incident of evil will
be balanced by 10,000 acts of kindness.”
Here
is one story of at least 10,000 acts of kindness.
On
September 11th, when all flights in and
to the US were grounded, there were several planes
flying above the Atlantic ocean. This is the
story of what happened aboard one of those planes,
Delta flight #15, a plane flying from Frankfurt
Germany to Atlanta. I have resisted the temptation
to rewrite the story, choosing instead to let the
words of the author, an attendant who was working
the flight, speak for themselves. May
we be grateful for what has been given; may we be
grateful for all that we share.
The attendant writes:
We
were about 5 hours out of Frankfurt flying over
the North Atlantic and I was in my crew rest seat
taking my scheduled rest break.
All of a sudden the curtains parted violently and
I was told to go to the cockpit, right now, to see
the captain. As soon as I got there I noticed that
the crew had one of those "All Business"
looks on their faces. The captain handed me a
printed message. I quickly read the message and
realized the importance of it.
The message was from Atlanta, addressed to our
flight, and simply said, "All airways over
the Continental US are closed. Land ASAP at the
nearest airport, advise your destination."
Now, when a dispatcher tells you to land
immediately without suggesting which airport, one
can assume that the dispatcher has reluctantly
given up control of the flight to the captain. We
knew it was a serious situation and we needed to
find terra firma quickly. It was quickly decided
that the nearest airport was 400 miles away,
behind our right shoulder, in Gander, on the
island of New Foundland.
A quick request was made to the Canadian traffic
controller and a right turn, directly to Gander,
was approved immediately. We found out later why
there was no hesitation by the Canadian controller
approving our request. We, the in-flight crew,
were told to get the airplane ready for an
immediate landing.
While this was going on another message arrived
from Atlanta telling us about some terrorist
activity in the New York area. We briefed
the in-flight crew about going to Gander and we
went about our business 'closing down' the
airplane for a landing. A few minutes later I went
back to the cockpit to find out that some
airplanes had been hijacked and were being flown
into buildings all over the US.
We decided to make an announcement and LIE to the
passengers for the time being. We told them that
an instrument problem had arisen on the airplane
and that we needed to land at Gander, to have it
checked. We promised to give more information
after landing in Gander. There were many unhappy
passengers but that is par for the course.
We landed in Gander about 40 minutes after the
start of this episode. There were already about 20
other airplanes on the ground from all over the
world. After we parked on the ramp the
captain made the following announcement:
"Ladies and gentlemen, you must be wondering
if all these airplanes around us have the same
instrument problem as we have. But the reality is
that we are here for a good reason."
Then he went on to explain the little bit we knew
about the situation in the US. There were loud
gasps and stares of disbelief. Local time at
Gander was 12:30 PM. (11:00 AM EST)
Gander
control told us to stay put. No one was allowed to
get off the aircraft. No one on the ground was
allowed to come near the aircraft. Only a car from
the airport police would come around once in a
while, look us over and go on to the next
airplane. In the next hour or so all the airways
over the North Atlantic were vacated and Gander
alone ended up with 53 airplanes from all over the
world, out of which 27 were flying US flags.
We were told that each and every plane was to be
offloaded, one at a time, with the foreign
carriers given the priority. We were No.14 in the
US category. We were further told that we would be
given a tentative time to deplane at 6 PM.
Meanwhile bits of news started to come in over the
aircraft radio and for the first time we learned
that airplanes were flown into the World Trade
Center in New York and into the Pentagon in DC.
People were trying to use their cell phones but
were unable to connect due to a different cell
system in Canada. Some did get through but were
only able to get to the Canadian operator who
would tell them that the lines to the US were
either blocked or jammed and to try again. Some
time late in the evening the news filtered to us
that the World Trade Center buildings had
collapsed and that a fourth hijacking had resulted
in a crash.
Now the passengers were totally bewildered and
emotionally exhausted but stayed calm as we kept
reminding them to look around to see that we were
not the only ones in this predicament. There were
52 other planes with people on them in the same
situation. We also told them that the Canadian
Government was in charge and we were at their
mercy.
True to their word, at 6 PM, Gander airport told
us that our turn to deplane would come at 11AM,
the next morning. That took the last wind out of
the passengers and they simply resigned and
accepted this news without much noise and really
started to get into a mode of spending the night
on the airplane. Gander had promised us any
and all medical attention if needed; medicine,
water, and lavatory servicing. And they were true
to their word.
Fortunately we had no medical situation during the
night. We did have a young lady who was 33 weeks
into her pregnancy. We took REALLY good care of
her. The night passed without any further
complications on our airplane despite the
uncomfortable sleeping arrangements. About 10:30
on the morning of the 12th we were told to get
ready to leave the aircraft.
A convoy of school buses showed up at the side of
the airplane, the stairway was hooked up and the
passengers were taken to the terminal for
"processing." We, the crew, were
taken to the same terminal but were told to go to
a different section, where we were processed
through Immigration and customs and then had to
register with the Red Cross. After that we were
isolated from our passengers and were taken in a
caravan of vans to a very small hotel in the town
of Gander. We had no idea where our passengers
were going.
The town of Gander has a population of 10,400
people. Red Cross told us that they were going to
process about 10,500 passengers from all the
airplanes that were forced into Gander. We were
told to just relax at the hotel and wait for a
call to go back to the airport, but not to expect
that call for a while. We found out the total
scope of the terror back home only after getting
to our hotel and turning on the TV, 24 hours after
it all started.
Meanwhile we enjoyed ourselves going around town
discovering things and enjoying the hospitality.
The people were so friendly and they just knew
that we were the "Plane people." We all
had a great time until we got that call, 2 days
later, on the 14th at 7AM.
We made it to the airport by 8:30AM and left for
Atlanta at 12:30 PM
arriving in Atlanta at about 4:30PM. (Gander is 1
hour and 30 minutes ahead of EST, yes!, 1 hour and
30 minutes.) But that's not what I wanted to tell
you. What passengers told us was so uplifting and
incredible and the timing couldn't have been
better.
We found out that Gander and the surrounding small
communities, within a 75 Kilometer radius, had
closed all the high schools, meeting halls,
lodges, and any other large gathering places. They
converted all these facilities to a mass lodging
area. Some had cots set up, some had mats with
sleeping bags and pillows set up. ALL the high
school students HAD to volunteer taking care of
the "GUESTS."
Our 218 passengers ended up in a town called
Lewisporte, about 45 Kilometers from Gander. There
they were put in a high school. If any women
wanted to be in a women only facility, that was
arranged. Families were kept together. All the
elderly passengers were given no choice and were
taken to private homes. Remember that young
pregnant lady, she was put up in a private home
right across the street from a 24 hour Urgent Care
type facility.
There were DDS on call and they had both male and
female nurses available who stayed with the crowd
for the duration. Phone calls and emails to US and
Europe were available for everyone once a day.
During the days the passengers were given a choice
of "Excursion" trips. Some people went
on boat cruises of the lakes and harbors. Some
went to see the local forests. Local bakeries
stayed open to make fresh bread for the guests.
Food was prepared by all the residents and brought
to the school for those who elected to stay put.
Others were driven to the eatery of their choice
and fed. They were given tokens to go to the local
Laundromat to wash their clothes, since their
luggage was still on the aircraft.
In other words every single need was met for those
unfortunate travelers. Passengers were crying
while telling us these stories. After all that,
they were delivered to the airport right on time
and without a single one missing or late. All
because the local Red Cross had all the
information about the goings on back at Gander and
knew which group needed to leave for the airport
at what time. Absolutely incredible.
When passengers came on board, it was like they
had been on a cruise. Everybody knew everybody
else by their name. They were swapping stories of
their stay, impressing each other with who had the
better time. It was mind boggling. Our flight back
to Atlanta looked like a party flight. We simply
stayed out of their way. The passengers had
totally bonded and they were calling each other by
their first names, exchanging phone numbers,
addresses, and email addresses.
And then a strange thing happened. One of our
business class passengers approached me and asked
if he could speak over the PA to his fellow
passengers. We never, never, allow that. But
something told me to get out of his way. I said
"of course." The gentleman picked up the
PA and reminded everyone about what they had just
gone through in the last few days. He reminded
them of the hospitality they had received at the
hands of total strangers.
He further stated that he would like to do
something in return for the good folks of the town
of Lewisporte. He said he was going to set up a
Trust Fund under the name of DELTA 15 (our flight
number). The purpose of the trust fund is to
provide a scholarship for high school student(s)
of Lewisporte to help them go to college. He asked
for donations of any amount from his fellow
travelers. When the paper with donations got back
to us with the amounts, names, phone numbers and
addresses, it totaled to $14.5K or about $20K
Canadian.
The gentleman who started all this turned out to
be an MD from Virginia. He promised to match the
donations and to start the administrative work on
the scholarship. He also said that he would
forward this proposal to Delta Corporate and ask
them to donate as well.
Why, all of this? Just because some people in far
away places were kind to some strangers, who
happened to literally drop in among them?
Why all of this? WHY NOT?
(For more information
about Delta Flight #15 and other stories from
Gander, visit www.theganderconnection.org)
Closing
Words (Sara Moores Campbell)
We
receive fragments of holiness,
Brief
moments of insight.
Let
us gather them up for the precious gifts that they
are
And,
renewed by their grace, move boldly
Into
the unknown.