Signs of Life

Around 6am on September 12^th 2001, German Shepherd Canadian police dog Trakr found signs of life under the rubble at Ground Zero.  Fire-fighters dug in, where he pointed and found Genelle Guzman, who had been inside the Twin Towers when they collapsed.  She had been trapped for nearly 26 hours and would most likely have died, had Trakr not found her.

Over 300 search & rescue dogs alongside their handlers arrived in New York City, after 9/11.  They came from all over America & Canada and as far a field as Puerto Rico and France to help find survivors among the twisted steel, body parts, piles of glass, and mountains of rubble. It was the largest deployment of dogs in a rescue mission in US history.   Working gruelling 16-hour days, under their handlers, these agile, utterly focused and determined dogs, searched for survivors in nooks and crannies, tunnels and holes impossible for human’s to access.

Federal Rescue worker Bob Sessions said, “If these dogs only knew what a difference they make. Certainly, there’s nothing that can replace the precision of a dog’s nose, in rescue situations —and absolutely nothing that can replace a dog’s heart.”

Dogs smell as humans see. A field or building to them is like the vibrant colour picture of a high definition television is to us.  A dog’s sense of smell is so animated; their noses can pick up layers of scent from the history of the area they are in.  Rescue dogs have extensive training – but this builds on their natural ability to keep searching for life, these dogs will literally follow a scent until they are called off. ‘We need a dog over here’ was the continual call around the site. 

The ability of the dogs to console humans became apparent when specialist ‘trauma therapy’ dogs were brought to Ground Zero to provide emotional support to the rescue workers who were traumatised by the disaster site.   These dogs were specifically trained to pick up on trauma and go towards it, pursuing people they perceive to be in a state of distress. Rescue workers felt able to reach out to these dogs in ways they couldn’t to those humans around them. They said that the dogs consoled them and gave them solace and strength to keep going, day-after-day in the rubble.

As we remember those that passed 11 years ago today in that terrible tragedy, we also remember those that mounted the rescue mission, and the dogs that made their jobs, just that little bit more bearable.

Nicky Cahill, written & recorded August 2012

This thought was broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster this morning, 11 September 2012.

That's it for now ...

Nics

Salt & Sparkle = Life Remarkable

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NO-vember, let's hear it for Thanksgiving

I have had an amazing time for the past week in New York City, what a place!  This is my favourite shot, taken 'At the Top of the Rock'.  There is something so special about seeing a city at night, it is intimate and romantic, the lights show the shape and structure of the city, that is just now possible to see in the day time, when everything seems to merge into one.  They twinkle as you look out over the buildings, bringing a sense of life being lived across the city.  It is a magical experience, and if you come to NYC you just have to go to the top of the rock.

Today my first in a series of four Thoughts for the Day was broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster.  Click here to listen online, at either 7.55am or 6.55am.  I hope you enjoy it.

Otherwise you can read the text below.

November – TFTD Script One

No sun, no moon, no morn, no noon no proper time, of day … No warmth, no cheerfulness, No comfortable feel in anyway…

I learnt this poem by Thomas Hood, at Primary School.  The words so apt in describing the month of November have stayed with me.   November is a NO month, right down to the very spelling of the word – NO - vember. 

Winter is upon us. The summer’s birdsong, blue skies, and sunshine are but distant memories.  Skeletons of trees shiver in the wind, against a dark sky, their leaves, their colour long gone.  Our lives – waking and sleeping - are played out in the dark; November comes with a darkness that seems to engulf us. There is nothing for it, but to batten down the hatches, wrap up warm and keep going.  The only glimmer of colour is that cold bright light that haunts November afternoons, leaving only traces of pale pinks and primrose streaked across the sky, as the sun sinks below the horizon.

When I was at University in St Andrews this was my favourite time of day to take a walk on the beach.  Everything about St Andrews, in November was grey - the buildings, the people, the sky, and the sea.  Except for a few magical moments in the afternoon, when a light so cold and bright, it felt haunted lit the beach and the town, with a soft red glow.

It was at St Andrews that my American friends introduced me to something wonderful about November, the concept of Thanksgiving - A day to be thankful – for what has passed and what is to come.   The American national holiday that everyone celebrates and gets tremendously excited about.

On the fourth Thursday of the month, tiny student kitchens where filled with the smells of roasting Turkey, and bubbling sweet potato pie.  Students crowded round makeshift tables laden with Thanksgiving Feasts and spoke of things they were thankful for from the past year.

I still love my adopted holiday of Thanksgiving, and choose to celebrate it each year, by seeing November not as a month of No’s but as a month of Thanks. Each day I chose something to be thankful for – a person, place, thing or a concept – and I post it as my status on Facebook, or Twitter.

Even in our darkest moments, in what seems to be the darkest month, there are things to be thankful for.  Instead of seeing this month, as an endurance test to get to December, and the bright lights of Christmas can I encourage you to find one thing each day this month to be thankful for. Trust me it will bring a smile to your face, and some warmth to your heart.

Nicky Cahill October 2011

For November, I will be posting one thing I am thankful for each day on my blog, and I hope you will join me in the comments.

Today I am thankful for the kindness of strangers.

That's it for now...

Nics

salt and sparkle = life remarkable