I had some errands to do and I was uptown across from St. Pats the following
is what I saw of a fire captains funeral.
I passed St.Patricks at noon yesterday;a beautiful day ;cloudless sunny
perfect fall day in New York
the great doors of the church  swung open as the sounds of muffled drums
rounded the corner
 a little boy in his sunday best clutched his mommys hand as an large red
fire truck  along curbside
uniformed fire fighters lowered a flag draped coffin to the pre position of
their commrades on the steps.
A team of white Belgian horses with empty waggon accompanied the fire
truck.The horses were in black plume and crepe they appeared wild eyed and
snorting.
  The crowd pressed forward as the white hat  fire captain slowly presented
the battered fire helmet to the widow who was black veiled  and still
clutching her sons hand.
She became unsteady in the moment and had to be assisted under elbow by the
fire captain.    She then  beckons to her little boy to recieved his Daddys
battered helmet.
The little boy did so with both hands as if were recieving a crown ..
.many in the crowd are choking  back tears
 The six year old now  turns heel to face the procession of the coffin  with
his  mom still under arm of the fire captain the sea of family and
firefighters fall into position.
Then  there was a cry crack to  command  attention as a phlanx of kilted
pipers skirl the air with  the sounds of bagpipes.
The procession of uniform and family begin to mount the steps to a  a
mournfull aire "Flowers of the Forrest"
The little boy mounts the steps  behind the flag draped coffin with both
hands holding the batterd helmet as a few in the   crowd call out "courage "
There is not a dry eye.
    With flags snapping at half mast the  procession enters the massive doors
and drifts into  the gothic spiritual   darkness of this holy place.
With that my cell phone rings and informs me of a meeting in ten minuets I
have to be at . I grab cab and stare listless out the window .

The capatain was 33 his pretty wife was 26 their little boy is six .
There are 20,000 children affected by this attack
 When Tich Nacht Hahn the famous buddhist and zen poet  (sp?) was attacked by
pirates in the Yellow sea he did not sit SatSeng(sp) he fought with all the
cunning and daing God had given him so did the passengers on the pennsy
flight that crashed ..our path is obvious; our resolve is deep
Pray for peace in the hearts of all our women and men overseas right now ;
that they can get the job done.