9.11

9.11 9 1 1 I'm a New York City firefighter, as was my father and his father before him. Being Irish Catholic, most of my relatives were hard-nosed cops. It was always a verbal battle when the family got together. Who was tougher, braver and more active always came up during heated debates- especially after a few drinks. My grandfather always started off his argument with, "Well, I used to work in the Bronx. We didn't have all your fancy equipment. It was hustle, courage, and dedication that got the damn job done." That was the start to a loud and uproarious argument. "Pop, you think we ain't got heart' Look at the news. You see thousands of guys pulling together and that kind of stuff happens every day. It didn't take this kind of act to get us united. We're always a team!" Lately however, I would end our arguments with a smart ass comment like, " You were never in the position I'm in right now with all that's going on in this city. You may think you've seen tough times, bad fires, horrible accidents but know, hours, back, about, very, always, think, right, just, job, father, day, city, work, twelve, times, people, over, out, one, country, came, been, we're, way, true, though, that's, steel, started, son, simply, pot, pop, part, now, look, little, liberty, irish, immigrants, hard, going, god, go, every, done, dad, chief, argument