The Streets of Heaven Are Too Crowded
“The Streets of Heaven are Too Crowded With Angels Today…”
I am watching the fourth season of the West Wing (I know I’m a few years behind, the down side to going three years without access to a television regularly) and I just finished watching the first season. The President gave a speech about heroes, in the context of a bombing that went off at a university swim meet. “This is a time for American Heroes and we reach for the stars… There are 3 male swim team members dead tonight, and two more injured. They heard the blast in the gym from their practice gym and ran into the fire to help pull people out. They ran INTO the fire to help pull people out. The streets in heaven are too crowded tonight with angels. They are our teachers, and students, friends and families. This is a time for American Heroes and we reach for the stars…”
This was an excerpt from the speech. I’m a bit of a cry-baby as it is, but this made me start bawling outright. This is a time for American heroes… something that brought me back to another blog I wrote a while back about heroism but this one goes a bit further…
WE all doubt ourselves and the decisions we make but I’ve done that a lot lately and also some others…
I have a new neighbor who came by to chat a few nights ago… he seemed like he needed someone to talk to, for some reason, still beyond my understanding, I attract people who need someone to talk to. I tend to be a good listener, and also, bad at saying “I can’t” so I do. So we chatted for quite a while. He told me things that were bothering him, the types of things that he has been dealing with emotionally for a while now. I was immediately put off by the things he said, and tried my hardest to change the subject. I was torn, you see because what he was telling me was partially legal matters, things of which I wanted no part should they explode, and religious things; things I couldn’t handle in my heart. I was afraid to hear the secrets and I was afraid of how I would react. I did what I thought was necessary for my self.
Later he went with me to take out my trash, a very kind gesture. We were walking back down the alley toward my apartment, and I heard some noises ahead, I looked over into the parking lot behind my apartment, the Souper Salad on central, and there were two men, about my age at the oldest, beating the shit out of a man in his mid to late 30s. I say beating, I mean beating horribly. The man was on the ground, not moving, and probably, likely, almost absolutely having his internal organs damaged. I ran inside, after securely locking us into the apartment complex, and called the police. I was on the phone until the police showed up, the call locked in at exactly 8 minutes and 50seconds. I had to wonder why the cops hadn’t showed up a little earlier, I was worried, very worried about the guy. A few seconds maybe a minute after I started the call, the assailants jumped in their running car and sped away. I tried to tell the police dispatcher as much as I could about the assailants, but wasn’t able get a plate. The police never asked me for a description of the assailants, except that which I tried to give, and was cut off in the middle of, by the dispatcher. I was worried that my memory would lapse, I think I would be able to see the face clearly in my head right now if I summoned it. The problem is they aren’t calling. Actually that’s not the real problem. The real problem is that this man was being beat up, and I was watching. I did what I could, of course, I called the police, and I hear all the stuff you should hear, in my head. I couldn’t put myself in the kind of danger it would be, if I were to try to break up the fight. I am not saying I feel like I should have sone anything else, except that I do.
I have to wonder how many times a day we as individuals are put in the perfect situation to help other people, to become heroes, and to change lives. To flood the streets of heaven with angels again.
Now I have to say this right now, I am not advocating putting our lives in danger to save the lives of others, unnecessarily (anyone think this sounds a little like current American Foreign policy?) but I am saying there are so many problems in the world, in our society, in our state, in the great City of Albuquerque that would be minimized or solved by our willingness to be heroes.
When was the last time you drove by a car accident, one that had just happened, that didn’t have a thousand people at the scene already, one where people may have needed help? Did you think about stopping? Did you think about what you could have done? And could you have helped? Sure there is no sense in standing around watching to see what happens next, but if someone is hurt could you help stop bleeding until first responders show up? If a car is about to catch on fire can you pull a small child out of it before that happens?
All I am saying is that America’s streets are overcrowded with angels, angels waiting to get wings. I fully believe that we are all Angels, and have wings waiting for us. Please, lets try to use those wings, try to earn them, try to live to our full potential.
I am watching the fourth season of the West Wing (I know I’m a few years behind, the down side to going three years without access to a television regularly) and I just finished watching the first season. The President gave a speech about heroes, in the context of a bombing that went off at a university swim meet. “This is a time for American Heroes and we reach for the stars… There are 3 male swim team members dead tonight, and two more injured. They heard the blast in the gym from their practice gym and ran into the fire to help pull people out. They ran INTO the fire to help pull people out. The streets in heaven are too crowded tonight with angels. They are our teachers, and students, friends and families. This is a time for American Heroes and we reach for the stars…”
This was an excerpt from the speech. I’m a bit of a cry-baby as it is, but this made me start bawling outright. This is a time for American heroes… something that brought me back to another blog I wrote a while back about heroism but this one goes a bit further…
WE all doubt ourselves and the decisions we make but I’ve done that a lot lately and also some others…
I have a new neighbor who came by to chat a few nights ago… he seemed like he needed someone to talk to, for some reason, still beyond my understanding, I attract people who need someone to talk to. I tend to be a good listener, and also, bad at saying “I can’t” so I do. So we chatted for quite a while. He told me things that were bothering him, the types of things that he has been dealing with emotionally for a while now. I was immediately put off by the things he said, and tried my hardest to change the subject. I was torn, you see because what he was telling me was partially legal matters, things of which I wanted no part should they explode, and religious things; things I couldn’t handle in my heart. I was afraid to hear the secrets and I was afraid of how I would react. I did what I thought was necessary for my self.
Later he went with me to take out my trash, a very kind gesture. We were walking back down the alley toward my apartment, and I heard some noises ahead, I looked over into the parking lot behind my apartment, the Souper Salad on central, and there were two men, about my age at the oldest, beating the shit out of a man in his mid to late 30s. I say beating, I mean beating horribly. The man was on the ground, not moving, and probably, likely, almost absolutely having his internal organs damaged. I ran inside, after securely locking us into the apartment complex, and called the police. I was on the phone until the police showed up, the call locked in at exactly 8 minutes and 50seconds. I had to wonder why the cops hadn’t showed up a little earlier, I was worried, very worried about the guy. A few seconds maybe a minute after I started the call, the assailants jumped in their running car and sped away. I tried to tell the police dispatcher as much as I could about the assailants, but wasn’t able get a plate. The police never asked me for a description of the assailants, except that which I tried to give, and was cut off in the middle of, by the dispatcher. I was worried that my memory would lapse, I think I would be able to see the face clearly in my head right now if I summoned it. The problem is they aren’t calling. Actually that’s not the real problem. The real problem is that this man was being beat up, and I was watching. I did what I could, of course, I called the police, and I hear all the stuff you should hear, in my head. I couldn’t put myself in the kind of danger it would be, if I were to try to break up the fight. I am not saying I feel like I should have sone anything else, except that I do.
I have to wonder how many times a day we as individuals are put in the perfect situation to help other people, to become heroes, and to change lives. To flood the streets of heaven with angels again.
Now I have to say this right now, I am not advocating putting our lives in danger to save the lives of others, unnecessarily (anyone think this sounds a little like current American Foreign policy?) but I am saying there are so many problems in the world, in our society, in our state, in the great City of Albuquerque that would be minimized or solved by our willingness to be heroes.
When was the last time you drove by a car accident, one that had just happened, that didn’t have a thousand people at the scene already, one where people may have needed help? Did you think about stopping? Did you think about what you could have done? And could you have helped? Sure there is no sense in standing around watching to see what happens next, but if someone is hurt could you help stop bleeding until first responders show up? If a car is about to catch on fire can you pull a small child out of it before that happens?
All I am saying is that America’s streets are overcrowded with angels, angels waiting to get wings. I fully believe that we are all Angels, and have wings waiting for us. Please, lets try to use those wings, try to earn them, try to live to our full potential.
posted by Marshall at 11:44 AM
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