It was not these words used in the title, “narrowly escaping
death,” that lured me into reading the article in the newspaper. Those words were buried near the end of the
article. Rather it was the two pictures
that drew me. One picture was an
ordinary looking guy holding a rather battered briefcase. He was standing in front of a lovely green
background of some trees. He was a
fairly old guy, handsome enough in his own right. There certainly was nothing special about
him---a story on some business guy or someone’s grandfather, I supposed.
The other picture was something else. It showed three guys walking away from what
looked like a war scene. They were
covered with dirt, clothes tattered---almost looking like miners emerging from
deep underground. The figure on the
right was carrying a briefcase. At first
sight I would not have guessed he was the same guy I just described in the
above paragraph.
He is a survivor of the World Trade Center fiasco. He is now retired and living in my part of
the country. The local news reporter did
a wonderful story on him that I immensely enjoyed reading. It is a human story. And it is a divine story. It is a story worth retelling. Thank you Phillip Morris, reporter and
storyteller.
“George Sleigh was a dead man walking as he stepped into the
stairwell of the 91st floor.
He just didn’t know it,” begins the newspaper article. That’s a great opening paragraph and I had to
read further. “It never occurred to him
that not a single soul would survive on the 19 floors above his office.” I cannot imagine what George experienced that
day, nor can I imagine what he thinks today as he remembers that fateful day in
the fall of 2001.
We are simply told that he heard the roar and saw the plane
a split second before it crashed into the building. I laughed at his response. “It never occurred to him to let go of his
briefcase---his work---as he said a quick prayer and began his exit from the
North Tower…”
The reporter, Phillip Morris, did a great job in the
interview. George Sleigh told Morris
about “two incongruous visions that continue to command his thoughts on that
day. One involved the certainty of
death. The other involves the normalcy
of life even in the face of death.” I
agree. Those two thoughts are
incongruous: the certainty of death and the normalcy of life. Perhaps only folks at the margin of their
lives can entertain such incongruity and make sense of it.
I realized I had now two more clues about Sleigh’s
spirituality. I had nearly missed the
first clue. That clue noted that he said
a prayer before beginning to descend the stairs from the 91st
floor. Perhaps folks unaccustomed to
praying always miss this clue. Others of
us who might believe in prayer believe in a way that does not really take it
for the power that prayer might actually have.
For us prayer is more like the “God bless you” that accompanies a
sneeze!
Because Sleigh was a spiritual guy, he believed in prayer
and was able to face the certainty of death and accept the normalcy of life in
the face of that certainty. “Wow,” I
thought! The story continues to
unfold. Obviously Sleigh made it down
and out of harm’s way. And now he is
living in my region telling his story.
There was one more paragraph in Morris’ article that I found
fascinating. Morris quotes George
Sleigh. “I believe that God is firmly in
control…But the lessons we must never forget is that we are vulnerable and must
remain vigilant.” This is Sleigh’s
theology that doubtlessly buttressed him on his walk down 91 flights of stairs. I can appreciate that theology.
It is good for me to read this and ponder it. I am not sure Sleigh’s theology is my
theology. But that is ok. I can learn from him. Clearly his theology shapes the way he sees
life and lives his life. That is
powerful. I can ask myself whether my
theology is as powerful for me?
I agree with Sleigh that we are vulnerable. We may not be living in our own World Trade
Centers. But we are vulnerable to
attacks from without and within. Most of
us don’t need foreign terrorists. Some
of us are capable of terrorizing ourselves with our bad choices, stupidity and
stubbornness. Too many of us never find
the stairs to the safety of the good life and we perish in the mayhem of our
life’s choices.
God may be in control.
But we have to do our part. We
have to be responsive and responsible.
God does not walk down the stairs; we do. And if we choose to walk down the stairs of
our life, then we also will narrowly escape death.
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