Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Diamond Diary by Kevin Cooney
9/10/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Sept. 10, 2002
Emergency Room...9/11... The Rising:
Sixteen years at FAU have resulted in many trips to the emergency room of Boca Community Hospital with injured players. It's always tough to call a parent and not scare them to death. I've been there far more often than with my own children. I thought about that a lot as I waited with Mary Beth and Luke on Thursday to see the results of a CAT scan on Luke.
Two year olds are active and ours is no exception. Luke took a header from his high chair onto our tile floor and suffered a concussion. I happened to stop by the house for something and saw MB trying to get Luke to respond to cake icing. He wouldn't even blink as he stared at her outstretched hand. We rushed him into the ER where the doc said that his scan looked good... no bleeding,but... BUT? There was a clear fracture at the base of his skull.
Boca Fire and Rescue took Luke and MB to Delray Community Trauma Center. By now Luke was seemingly recovered, but procedure dictated he stay overnight for observation and another CAT scan in the morning. Thanks to John Eddinger's men of the Boca Fire and Rescue... they were great to Luke. He loves the big stuffed mouse.
As I drove him to the hospital, I was scared by how he looked. I was sure it was just a concussion, but you never know. Holding him in my arms in the ER, I realized how lucky my life has been. The type of loss or tragedy I feared has not hit me directly. God has been good to me.
How do people deal with the loss of a child or a spouse... a brother or a sister? That's what I kept thinking as I prayed Luke would be alright. When I think of September 11, it is in that context. How are all those people coping? Three thoudand lives in one day?
The media refers to 9/11 as the day that changed America. In some ways that is true. But America and Americans have gone on and returned to a very similar life as before.
But, the people who lost loved ones... they are the ones whose lives were changed forever. They are the ones for whom Wednesday is another extra hard day to get through... as was Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, birthdays, and anniversaries. Life will never be the same for those people, more so than America.
Bruce Springsteen has always found a way to write about things that are happening in people's lives in a way to which a lot of average everyday people can relate. From teenage angst to family strife and joy, the mystery of marriage amd the heartbreak of failed relationships, the joy of new love and family. To now, people dealing with loss.
The Rising is about 9/11 to the extent that this terrible event has made so many deal with similar emotions all at the same time. Too many people can relate to the heartfelt You're Missing, with its lyric "children ask if it will be alright, will you be in our arms tonight?" The album is filled with the lives of people caught up in loss and with 9/11 in our psyche, much of it is related to that event
Some of the songs are more directly associated. "The Rising" and "Into the Fire", deal specifically with fire and rescue people doing their jobs. "I see you Mary, in the garden...in a garden of a thousand sighs... There's holy pictures of our children dancin' in a sky filled with light..." this from a fireman who "left the house this morning...Bells ringing filled the air... Wear'in the cross of my calling... on wheels of fire I came rollin' down there." That fireman never got home.
The overriding feeling of this work however, is hope. Throughout the songs you get the feeling that despite how devastating their loss, these people will find a way to go on with their lives. That is what this Wednesday represents to me. The hope that each of us can find hope to carry on throughout the personal tragedies that are a part of human life.
Even scary falls from high chairs. KC
