Mary Tolman

Mary Tolman Obituary, West Point, UT :: Myers Mortuary

Helpless but Hopefull

We Shall Never Forget (9-11 Tribute)

 

Let the world always remember,

That fateful day in September,

And the ones who answered duties call,

Should be remembered by us all.

Who left the comfort of their home,

To face perils as yet unknown,

An embodiment of goodness on a day,

When men's hearts had gone astray.

Sons and daughters like me and you,

Who never questioned what they had to do,

Who by example, were a source of hope,

And strength to others who could not cope.

Heroes that would not turn their back,

With determination that would not crack,

Who bound together in their ranks,

And asking not a word of thanks.

Men who bravely gave their lives,

Whose orphaned kids and widowed wives,

Can proudly look back on their dad,

Who gave this country all they had.

Actions taken without regret,

Heroisms we shall never forget,

The ones who paid the ultimate price,

Let's never forget their sacrifice.

And never forget the ones no longer here,

Who fought for the freedoms we all hold dear,

And may their memory never wane,

Lest their sacrifices be in vain.

Alan W. Jankowski

 

Helpless....watching the World Trade Center fall, the Pentagon, and the heroic passengers on Flight 93. How could something like this happen? How could I help? I only graduated High School 3 months earlier. I had just finished my last summer as a "kid". Started a new job. Slowly working my way into the adult world. 9/11 made me realize that I was no longer a kid. Life was no fairytale. And yet I was so far away physically that sometimes it felt after watching live and then the news coverage over the next few days there was nothing I could do to help.

 

What could I an 18 year old hundreds of miles away do? We should or patriotic side, prayed, and kept on keeping on. I often would find myself thinking about the people who could have caused such devastation. How could someone do this to someone else? How could there be such evil in the world? But hope in humanity through the stories of people helping each other out of the buildings, people running in those same buildings. People picking each other up off the ground and running with them.


Lydia's thank you note from a few years ago

The stories of people like Frank De Martini and Pablo Ortiz who saved 77 people from the 88th floor. Flight attendant Betty Ong from Flight 11 who reported the hijacking of the first Airplane so when others went off radar traffic controllers where aware of the possibility of more hijackings. Stories of many others gave me something to cling to not all people are bad. And that is something to be grateful for.

 

Lydia's thank you note

And now 14 years later I realize that sometimes a few bad people will still try to hurt humanity. And if I let myself dwell on it I would feel hopeless. But hopeless and helpless are dark areas to be. Light cannot exist where darkness is. So I must choose to look to the light. To have HOPE. To watch for the heros, our uniformed ones as well as ordinary people who are given the opportunity to choose to step up and do. Hope that this world that I am raising my children in will one day be a place that they feel safe. Safe to live their lives and if they choose, a place that they will feel safe raising children of their own. That is my greatest hope. THEY are my greatest HOPE.

L to R: Lydia, Alex, Chase, AJ, Taylie, Tracie, Austin

 

 

 

TBT: Great Grandma Jones

Back row: Donna Lee Greer Tolman and Fern Jones Greer
Front Row: Tracie Fern Tolman Turner and Veda Eggleston Jones

 

Introducing....

Chase Louis Turner
January 15, 2015
7lbs 9oz
20.5 in
7:52am