A decision to live is to die for

“RoN Woodward was on the 75^th floor of the WTC’s south block when the hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 was rammed into it between the 77^th and the 85^th floors at 9:03 a.m on September 11^th, 2001. Being below the actual impact site Woodward survived but didn’t know he had only 56 minutes before the structure collapsed. Taking no chances, he started clambering desperately down stairs to get out. Falling, floundering and lurching over people and debris in the darkness he finally made it to the lowest floors with only minutes to spare when he passed a fireman on his way up the same stairs. Their eyes met for a moment.

The fireman almost certainly died while Woodward managed to scramble away to safety. Years later he spoke on a television programme with candor and humility.

“He knew where he was going, and he didn’t miss a step. I knew where I was going and I was tripping.”

That’s the difference. At that time neither person would have imagined that the enormity of the collision would compromise the integrity of the entire tower.

Both men also had their jobs cut out for them; one had to save himself, the other had to save others. The survivor only did what comes instinctively to all of us, whereas the fireman was merely performing his duty. But that does not explain why Woodward’s eyes brimmed over with tears when he made this statement on TV.

Should Woodward have stayed back and tried to help other people? Not being trained to do so could have meant that he might have only gotten in the way of rescue operations. In any case the whole exercise would have been futile since the collapsing tower would have killed him in a short while and no one would have ever known. Just like no one would have ever known about the fireman if Woodward did not run into him.

But this much is definite: Woodward would not have wept.”

After a long time I return to the blog world with the above excerpt which is picked from Mukul Sharma’s Cosmic Uplink. It finds its way in my blog because I want this to remain with me forever.

It is so true that any calamity brings man closer to reality. It not only silences the incorrect belief which shouts that man is supreme by reinstating that we are all puppets in the hands of destiny, but it also brings a man closer to another.

I am not denying the fact that what Woodward did is what most of us would have done, but I wonder what Woodward would do if he ever finds himself in a similar situation. Perhaps not as big and drastic as the WTC disaster but a position where he has to make a choice between his safety and his inner voice. Will he take the escape route again to come out and ponder whether others made it, or will he dive in to help others and live forever?