Fallout People - Free at Last

by Karen Braschuk

I remember, as a little kid back in the '60s, being introduced to the poem "In Flanders Fields" at school. At the time, I didn't quite understand what the grownups were talking about, but I knew it was something sad.

Later, at the naïve age of 8 or 9, I started learning about Hitler, the atrocities inflicted on millions of people during World War II, and the human fallout of so many other wars since then. My own children have grown up with a sense of someone's ability to simply "push the button" and snuff out their existence.

At the end of the day, though, it really boils down to us as humans, doesn't it? We feel, we care, and we hurt for others just as much as we do for ourselves. We can all feel for the person who has been bullied. We can all feel for the innocent victims, the "fallout," of senseless global wars that put us all at risk.

Please remember the fallout. Please remember the innocents. Please remember that if political doctrines – while they may extol the virtues of a better life for all – involve killing "innocents" simply to prove a point, well, I guess they have just proved their point, haven't they?

I'd like to share a poem by Shaun O'Connell, a man of few words, who still chokingly wrote down his feelings of utter pain, sadness, and empathy for those who died on September 11, 2001, simply because they happened to become the fallout of an unseen war they never could have prepared for - a war that wasn't even theirs to begin with.

Fallout people have names. They have families, people who care about them, people who miss them and who still need them terribly, people who will never be the same because of this senseless slaughter of their loved ones.

I invite you to read Shaun's words and cry with him, but also share his very strong faith that these victims are truly "free at last" and in God's loving arms.

Free At Last

The sun arose one Tuesday morn,
In the city that never sleeps;
Noises filled the downtown air,
From trains to taxi beeps.

Then in a flash the first plane hit,
It fell right from the sky;
Followed shortly by the next,
And a nation soon asked why.

Before you knew, the towers fell,
As men and women ran;
Clouds of smoke soon filled the streets,
And then the search began.

Steel and glass were everywhere,
It crumbled by the ton;
A woman grasps a photograph,
Please help me find my son.

Pictures posted on a wall,
They stretch from end to end;
People looking frantically,
For a parent, a sister, a friend.

All of a sudden, we all change,
To a world that's full of fear;
Where have all these poor souls gone?
We all wipe back a tear.

Who will save these people now?
Will they all be found?
Look at the disaster,
Are they all underground?

And so they keep on digging,
To try to set souls free;
Then we hear a voice ring out,
"Don't worry, they're with me."

We'll never forget what happened here,
Will terrorism ever cease?
At least they're all together now,
At home with God, at peace.

Best wishes to everyone! Please feel free to share your comments.

Karen

Article submitted Saturday, May 21, 2011 & read 304 times.

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