Ordinary ... and heroic
Nothing affects us more than stories of "ordinary" people doing extraordinary things.
Wednesday's terrible accident in Mahoning Township is a good example. The fiery crash could very easily have become a multi-fatality, had it not been for the unnamed passers-by who risked their lives to save others. Disregarding one's own personal safety to pull trapped victims from a burning vehicle requires a great deal of inner strength.
Emergency personnel - firemen, police officers and other quick-responders are known for it, as are our men and women in the military. When those life-saving qualities rise up in ordinary people who have seconds to react, the deed is always astounding.
Americans saw a great deal of that kind of self-sacrifice and personal heroism nine years ago during the September 11 terrorist attacks against this country. Thousands of Americans stepped up during what became one of the most tragic and dark days in our nation's history.
Each one of the victims of 9/11 - whether those who died at the World Trade Center in New York, at the Pentagon or in a field outside Shanksville in Somerset County - were writing their own life history when the terrorists snuffed it out that morning. One that stands out for me - just in the fact it was so typically American and Norman Rockwellish - is the story of Paul Barbaro, a software engineer who designed trading platforms for some of the largest companies on Wall Street.
As a boy growing up in Staten Island, Barbaro was always taking care of others. Whether it was staying up late to care for his ailing grandmother or father, or shoveling the snow from his neighbor's driveway, he was truly a giver for most of his 35 years on earth before the towers fell on 9/11.
When he worked around his house in Holmdel, N.J., his two sons, aged 2 1/2 and 5, would trail behind him wearing their toy tool belts. That was a Kodak moment that Barbaro's brother Nicholas and others who knew him well carry with them today. They will always have that timeless memory of Paul ... the two little boys trailing behind dad, ready to help him on any household project with their toy tools.
It's those simple snapshots of life that has helped surviving family members and friends endure after the 9/11 attacks.
We might not have had a direct connection with any of the victims, but we can still reflect on those who died that day, either in our private thoughts or in a group setting such as the 9/11 Remembrance service planned by the Lehighton Interfaith Fellowship in the Lehighton Park Amphitheater tomorrow evening.
By Jim Zbick
jzbick @tnonline.com
