September 11 - "A Fireman's Prayer"

 

When I am called to duty,
whenever the flames my rage,
give me strength to save some
life whatever be their age.
Help me embrace a little child
before it is too late,
or save an old person from
the horror of that fate.
Enable me to be alert,
and hear the weakest shout.
And quickly and efficiently
to put the fire out.
I want to fill my calling
and give the best in me.
To guard my every neighbor,
protect his property.
And if according to my fate
I am to lose my life,
please bless with your protecting hand
my children and my wife.

9/11/01 - We will never forget

Poem by Firefighter A.W. “Smokey” Linn

 

 

Picture of the Day: Remembering September 11

 

Taken at the now gone Stagg Island 9/11 Memorial on Sunday, Sept 11 2016. A man in a Captain America avatar looks at the waterfall symbolizing one of the two twin towers of the World Trade Center.
 

Remembering Sept 11 at Stagg Island

On Monday Sept 11 at 6PM SL time, I dropped by the Stagg Island 9/11 Memorial. This was the sixteenth anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil that killed about 3,000 people, most from the collapse of the World Trade Center towers. There are a number of memorials to the fallen across Second Life. Stagg Island is the largest one known to the Newser.

The radio stream had both recordings of news broadcasts at the time, and music appropriate for the occasion, such as "Tower of Strength."

"Thank you for attending our 16th Anniversary tribute to those we lost on 9/11/2001. ... This memorial was constructed  for the 10 year anniversary of 9/11.  The outpouring of support has been so remarkable that the creator, and the residents and friends of Stagg Island, decided to leave it up here permanently and dedicate it to the residents of Second Life. Each wall at the memorial contains every name of a precious life lost that day. The individuals on the Airliners, in  the World Trade Center and in the Pentagon are all represented.

"At the one end of the memorial is an eternal flame signifying the light of these souls and keeping their memory forever alive.  Above the eternal flame rotates the Earth. This signifies that all countries were impacted by this terrible tragedy.  We lost people from all nationalities, colors and creeds that day. Evil does not discriminate.  Angels at each corner guard all the individuals honored here.

"The two recessed waterfalls represent the footprint of each building,  The  beam of light  in each footprint signifies each tower and are intended to light up the heavens for our loved ones as a guiding beacon to eternity. During our ceremonies on the anniversary, the "Lanterns of Souls"  will rise out of the water (from each footprint ) to the heavens, signifying the rising to heaven of  the souls of every human being lost that day."

Sixteen years after so many died, America still remembers those who fell.

Bixyl Shuftan

September 11 - We Remember

Fireman’s Prayer

When I am called to duty,
whenever the flames my rage,
give me strength to save some
life whatever be their age.
Help me embrace a little child
before it is too late,
or save an old person from
the horror of that fate.
Enable me to be alert,
and hear the weakest shout.
And quickly and efficiently
to put the fire out.
I want to fill my calling
and give the best in me.
To guard my every neighbor,
protect his property.
And if according to my fate
I am to lose my life,
please bless with your protecting hand
my children and my wife.

9/11/01 - We will never forget

Poem by Firefighter A.W. “Smokey” Linn

 

SL Video: September 11 Observance in Second Life

(Click here if the video fails to play)

Filmed by Cyrus Hush on Sept 11, 2011, "A tour of several sims commemorating the 911 tragedy in the virtual reality environment of Second Life."

Picture of the Day: Remembering September 11

Taken at the Stagg Island 9/11 Memorial on Sunday, Sept 11. A man in a Captain America avatar looks at the waterfall symbolizing one of the two twin towers of the World Trade Center.

By Bixyl Shuftan

Memorial Service at Stagg Island

Sunday was the 15th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks that killed almost 3,000 people. In Second Life, there was a service held at the Stagg Island 9/11 memorial. Among those there was Newser reporter Deaflegacy.

Read Deaflegacy's article in Events.

Fifteen Years Ago

Fireman's Prayer

When I am called to duty,
whenever the flames my rage,
give me strength to save some
life whatever be their age.
Help me embrace a little child
before it is too late,
or save an old person from
the horror of that fate.
Enable me to be alert,
and hear the weakest shout.
And quickly and efficiently
to put the fire out.
I want to fill my calling
and give the best in me.
To guard my every neighbor,
protect his property.
And if according to my fate
I am to lose my life,
please bless with your protecting hand
my children and my wife.

9/11/01 - We will never forget

Poem by Firefighter A.W. “Smokey” Linn

September 11 - We Remember

Fireman’s Prayer

When I am called to duty,
whenever the flames my rage,
give me strength to save some
life whatever be their age.
Help me embrace a little child
before it is too late,
or save an old person from
the horror of that fate.
Enable me to be alert,
and hear the weakest shout.
And quickly and efficiently
to put the fire out.
I want to fill my calling
and give the best in me.
To guard my every neighbor,
protect his property.
And if according to my fate
I am to lose my life,
please bless with your protecting hand
my children and my wife.

9/11/01 - We will never forget

Poem by Firefighter A.W. “Smokey” Linn

September 11th - The Fireman's Prayer

When I am called to duty,
whenever the flames my rage,
give me strength to save some
life whatever be their age.
Help me embrace a little child
before it is too late,
or save an old person from
the horror of that fate.
Enable me to be alert,
and hear the weakest shout.
And quickly and efficiently
to put the fire out.
I want to fill my calling
and give the best in me.
To guard my every neighbor,
protect his property.
And if according to my fate
I am to lose my life,
please bless with your protecting hand
my children and my wife.

9/11/01 - We will never forget

Poem by Firefighter A.W. “Smokey” Linn

SL Video: " September 11 Observance in Second Life "

(Click here if the video fails to load)

From Mathew Poole, filmed by Cyrus Hush, on Sept 11, 2011, "A tour of several sims commemorating the 911 tragedy in the virtual reality environment of Second Life." The first part of the sim shows the WTC Memorial in the New York NYC sim, now gone. Then the film switches to the Stagg Island memorial.

9/11 Memorials in Second Life

September 11th still weighs heavily on Americans twelve years after the deadly terrorist attack that claimed about three thousand lives. Besides the memorials in real life, there are some set up with in Second Life. Second Life took a look at some large and small.

Read more in Places.

September 11th - We Remember

Fireman’s Prayer

When I am called to duty,
whenever the flames my rage,
give me strength to save some
life whatever be their age.
Help me embrace a little child
before it is too late,
or save an old person from
the horror of that fate.
Enable me to be alert,
and hear the weakest shout.
And quickly and efficiently
to put the fire out.
I want to fill my calling
and give the best in me.
To guard my every neighbor,
protect his property.
And if according to my fate
I am to lose my life,
please bless with your protecting hand
my children and my wife.

9/11/01 - We will never forget

Poem by Firefighter A.W. “Smokey” Linn

9/11 Stairclimb Tribute at Areo Pines

This week, Grease Coakes went to Areo Pines Park. Not for it's usual outdoor activities, but for it's special memorial. Cindy Bolero, the owner of the park, had set up a stairclimb tribute in honor of the firefighters in New York City whom had bravely went up the floors of the World Trade Center before it came crashing down. People were invited to see what it was like to step in their place that day.

Read about the tribute in Places.

9/11 Memorials

Today is the eleventh anniversary of the September 11 Attacks, in which Islamist terrorists seized four airliners, and used them to strike the Pentagon and bring down the New York City World Trade Center. Nearly 3000 would be killed, and the United States was effectively a nation at war.

Over time in Second Life's history, there have been a number of memorials. Among those currently open are the following:


World Trade Center Memorial


Currently the most well known of the Sept. 11 memorials, it permanently stands in it's sim, the twin towers going high in to the air. One can find a replica of the girder cross, and a tribute statue to the firefighters.

New York NYC (71, 179, 22)



911 Memorial


Set in Stagg Island, I first came across this memorial last year, one with lists of the names of the fallen of Sept. 11.

Stagg Island (10, 150, 37)


9-11 Firefighters' Stairclimb Tribute


Set in Areo Pines Park, and sponsored by it's fire department, The Stairclimb Tribute is "in honor of the fallen firefighters of September 11, 2001. Join us for an engaging interactive tribute to the brave men and women who perished on that horrific day." With the option to get a set of fireman's gear at the bottom, one climbs the stairs to the top of the tower.

Equus (97, 212, 22)








Fireman’s Prayer

When I am called to duty,
whenever the flames my rage,
give me strength to save some
life whatever be their age.
Help me embrace a little child
before it is too late,
or save an old person from
the horror of that fate.
Enable me to be alert,
and hear the weakest shout.
And quickly and efficiently
to put the fire out.
I want to fill my calling
and give the best in me.
To guard my every neighbor,
protect his property.
And if according to my fate
I am to lose my life,
please bless with your protecting hand
my children and my wife.

9/11/01 - We will never forget

Poem by Firefighter A.W. “Smokey” Linn

Pictures from Bixyl Shuftan, Gemma Cleanslate, Destination Guide, Cindy Bolero

A Moment of Reflection

As most of you know, the arch-terrorist Osama Bin-Laden was finally killed by US special forces on Sunday May 1st. It’s been almost ten years since that dreadful day in which four planes were hijacked and used as missiles. The Pentagon was hit, the Twin Towers fell, and some other location in Washington would have been hit if the passengers of the fourth plane hadn’t revolted, sending it plummeting to the ground.

Ten years ... some of us were in grade school then. I myself was still a young man with community college still relatively fresh in my mind. The Internet was still somewhat new. MMOs were just starting to come out, the big one being Everquest, and Virtual worlds like Second Life were still under development. Many of us just puttered about on simple text-based games. The news, the country had just gotten over the Y2K mess in which people feared the world as we knew it would end, and we weren’t quite over the bitter Presidential election.

And then came Sept. 11th, and life as we knew it came to a halt. And when it slowly resumed, life had changed.

A number of 9-11 tributes had been built in the past. Among them was the World Trade Center memorial in the New York City Block at NYC. But a few months ago, that sim faded away. So I headed to the New York NYC sim for the Firefighters Memorial there, showing a statue of a leaning fireman. Names were read aloud over the radio. Near the memorial is a flag at half staff plus a firehouse.


To get to the memorial, head to New York NYC (45, 235, 21)

Bixyl Shuftan