Latest / Destination Unlimited with Victor Fuhrman / Rev. Dr. Laurie Sue Brockway

Transcript

Rev. Dr. Laurie Sue Brockway · Destination Unlimited with Victor Fuhrman

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Speaker 1: My name is Victor Furman. Some call me The Voice.
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Speaker 1: I've always been fascinated with human nature, spirituality, science, and
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Speaker 1: the crossroads at which they meet. Join me now and
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Speaker 1: we will explore these topics and so much more with
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Speaker 1: fascinating guests, authors, and experts who will guide us to
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Speaker 1: Destination Unlimited. Did you ever have a calling? Something that
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Speaker 1: the Webster Dictionary defines as a strong inner impulse toward
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Speaker 1: a particular course of action, especially when accompanied by conviction
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Speaker 1: of divine influence. What if that calling, through synchronicity, had
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Speaker 1: a different purpose than what you originally had in mind?
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Speaker 1: This is an experience that my wife Reverend Dr. Lori
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Speaker 1: Sue Brockway and I had after graduation and ordination from
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Speaker 1: the New Seminary of New York in the late 1990s.
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Speaker 1: Neither of us could have even imagined the events of
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Speaker 1: 9-11 or that we'd be called into a higher service
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Speaker 1: through that unthinkable tragedy. Lori Sue Brockway has been writing
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Speaker 1: and publishing for more than 40 years and has written
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Speaker 1: extensively on spirituality, the goddess, self-esteem, emotional health, relationships, and weddings.
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Speaker 1: She's honored to be part of the Interfaith Training Faculty
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Speaker 1: at All Faiths Seminary International. Her website is RevLaurieSue.com, and
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Speaker 1: she joins me this week to recall our respective paths
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Speaker 1: to interfaith ministry and our call to chaplaincy, serving the
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Speaker 1: families of victims of 9-11 as we approach the 25th
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Speaker 1: anniversary of of that tragic day. Please join me in
2:03
Speaker 1: welcoming to Destination Unlimited my beloved wife, Rev. Dr. Lori
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Speaker 1: Sue Brockway. Welcome, Lori Sue.
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Speaker 2: Hi, honey.
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Speaker 1: Lori Sue, please share with our listeners about your career
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Speaker 1: and how you were called to interfaith ministry.
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Speaker 2: Well, I was a journalist for 20 years before I
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Speaker 2: got the call to ministry, and I went through a
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Speaker 2: very intense period in my life where I lost my dad.
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Speaker 2: And I wasn't sure how to bury him because he
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Speaker 2: really didn't follow a particular religion. And in the process
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Speaker 2: of putting his funeral together and really officiating it myself,
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Speaker 2: my uncle had brought a minister with him to the funeral,
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Speaker 2: but I didn't really let the guy talk until the end.
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Speaker 2: I managed the funeral with a couple of good friends
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Speaker 2: of mine. The minister at the end said, I think
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Speaker 2: a healing is beginning and this is a great job
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Speaker 2: you've done. And then after the cemetery events were over,
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Speaker 2: this minister said to me, can I talk to you?
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Speaker 2: And I thought he was going to tell me that
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Speaker 2: I did something terribly wrong or sacrilegious. But he said,
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Speaker 2: have you ever thought of becoming a minister? And I said, no,
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Speaker 2: I had not. I had just left a national magazine
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Speaker 2: a couple of weeks ago and before that. And it
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Speaker 2: was not the path I was on at the time,
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Speaker 2: but I did feel called to do something healing because
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Speaker 2: my dad said that we had some Native American ancestors.
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Speaker 2: And I remembered that in some traditions, you take over
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Speaker 2: the mantle of the one who was passed on. And
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Speaker 2: even though my dad had a really rough life and
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Speaker 2: suffered from the disease of alcoholism, In the beginning and
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Speaker 2: the earlier days of his life and his fatherhood to me,
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Speaker 2: he was a healer and a helper. And there was
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Speaker 2: a part of me that really wanted to honor that
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Speaker 2: and explore it. So that's how I somehow remembered Rabbi Gelberman.
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Speaker 2: And I enrolled in the seminary with $ 100 deposit and
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Speaker 2: a great adventure before me.
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Speaker 1: And that new seminary of New York that Rabbi Gelberman
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Speaker 1: had founded along with Swami Satchidananda and several other interfaith
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Speaker 1: luminaries was the first interfaith school in the United States.
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Speaker 1: Is that correct?
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Speaker 3: Yes.
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Speaker 2: And of course, we have a few now, like All
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Speaker 2: Faith Seminary International. But we were part of the original
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Speaker 2: pod of people that were the first ever trained interfaith
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Speaker 2: ministers because honestly— In the 80s and 90s, people didn't
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Speaker 2: even know what an interfaith minister was. But we were
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Speaker 2: trained in all the tenets and practices and scriptures of
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Speaker 2: all world religions. And we were taught how to work
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Speaker 2: with people of all faiths and all backgrounds with all
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Speaker 2: sorts of belief systems and to always honor everybody where
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Speaker 2: they are. in their journey and to also honor all
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Speaker 2: the different ways that people respond to or think about
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Speaker 2: or have faith in God, goddess, all there is. And
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Speaker 2: it was really quite an extraordinary kind of training that
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Speaker 2: I had stepped into really not knowing exactly what to
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Speaker 2: expect when I took the big leap in.
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Speaker 1: Now, you had a long career in journalism, in magazines,
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Speaker 1: especially in women's magazines, and you came into this ministry.
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Speaker 1: You came into studying of the ministry. What was your objective?
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Speaker 1: What were you called to do? What did you have
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Speaker 1: in mind for service as a minister?
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Speaker 2: Well, to be honest, I thought I was going to
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Speaker 2: do funerals because I had also done my grandmother's funeral.
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Speaker 2: There was nobody in my family who had any real
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Speaker 2: religious leaders or helpers. And so I had buried some
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Speaker 2: of my most important relatives on my own. And after
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Speaker 2: I did my dad's funeral, and I did have the
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Speaker 2: help of a couple of friends who supported me, and
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Speaker 2: one of them led a healing circle. So I really
6:27
Speaker 2: had help with that. But it was sort of like,
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Speaker 2: maybe this is what I'm supposed to do. And then
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Speaker 2: because I had really been a journalist and a writer
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Speaker 2: of books specializing in relationships and romance, and some of
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Speaker 2: the sexy topics of the day, I thought, well, you know,
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Speaker 2: maybe I'm going to help people with relationships, too. Maybe
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Speaker 2: I'm going to help them find their soulmates and then
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Speaker 2: marry them. But I didn't exactly know what that was
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Speaker 2: going to look like until I was in seminary. And
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Speaker 2: the other path that I was beginning to follow back
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Speaker 2: then was the path of the Back then, we really
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Speaker 2: did not have a lot of information 30 years ago
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Speaker 2: about goddesses or who are the goddesses or what different
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Speaker 2: faith traditions actually worship goddesses. And I began to find
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Speaker 2: out about that. And I really focused very acutely on
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Speaker 2: that in seminary because every time a speaker came in,
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Speaker 2: and that's what happened at every course, we had a
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Speaker 2: speaker on a world religion and I'd listen to hear
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Speaker 2: about the goddesses. I'd listen to hear about the sacred feminine,
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Speaker 2: about women and spirituality. They did an amazing job of
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Speaker 2: teaching us, but the stories about the goddesses were not
7:47
Speaker 2: as prevalent. So I began to really do my own research.
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Speaker 2: And when I discovered that we lived in a world
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Speaker 2: that was filled with history of the divine feminine thousands
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Speaker 2: and thousands and thousands of years ago, that we had
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Speaker 2: living proof and statues and writings. And that they were
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Speaker 2: included in Hinduism and Buddhism and all different faiths that
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Speaker 2: I really realized that that was part of my training
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Speaker 2: and my work in the world. And I just kept
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Speaker 2: trying to find out as much as I could. And
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Speaker 2: when I did graduate from seminary and they asked us
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Speaker 2: to take vows and write our own vows, one of
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Speaker 2: the vows I made was to always include the Divine
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Speaker 2: Feminine along with the Divine Male and for her to
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Speaker 2: at least have a place at the table and for
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Speaker 2: people to know about this very important history.
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Speaker 1: Now, you had a very interesting experience concerning the Divine Feminine.
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Speaker 1: Tell us what happened when you were in your apartment.
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Speaker 2: Well, it was actually while I was in my initial
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Speaker 2: year of school and I was really struggling with money.
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Speaker 2: I had formerly been an editor-in-chief of Playgirl magazine. And
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Speaker 2: when I decided to become a minister, I thought I
9:10
Speaker 2: really have to do like 100% career change and let
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Speaker 2: go every single thing that I had been doing in
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Speaker 2: the latter part of my journalism career when I was
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Speaker 2: the editor of two national magazines. And I just... did
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Speaker 2: not have funds coming in, I was getting I was
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Speaker 2: offered all this work to do stories that were not
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Speaker 2: in alignment with who I was trying to become. And
9:36
Speaker 2: as you know, I had a very small little boy,
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Speaker 2: he was very young, he needed to be around doctors
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Speaker 2: in New York, he had a lot of medical challenges
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Speaker 2: in the beginning of his life. And I was a
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Speaker 2: single mother. And I had to somehow support us both.
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Speaker 2: But I thought it was important for me to change
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Speaker 2: my life and to be following a path of spiritual
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Speaker 2: sustenance and service so that I could be even a
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Speaker 2: better mother and create a different and better life for
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Speaker 2: Alexander and I. And so I started to get a
10:13
Speaker 2: little bit nervous because I only had one job at
10:17
Speaker 2: the time. I had a column. for Free Spirit New York,
10:20
Speaker 2: and they paid me $ 300 a month, and I just
10:23
Speaker 2: didn't have any other income. And I didn't think I
10:26
Speaker 2: was going to be able to pay for the rest
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Speaker 2: of my seminary training. So one day, when Alex was sleeping,
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Speaker 2: I went into my bathroom with a stick of incense
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Speaker 2: because I was learning in school that the prayers go
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Speaker 2: up to the gods in smoke. And that's one of
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Speaker 2: the reasons we have so many smoky things and candles
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Speaker 2: and rituals with sending smoke up with prayers. And I
10:52
Speaker 2: began praying for financial support. And it was just very
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Speaker 2: strange to me at the time. But suddenly, sitting in
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Speaker 2: my bathroom with my incense praying, I got this image
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Speaker 2: in my, I thought it was in my mind's eye,
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Speaker 2: where I saw a beautiful Indian woman in a green sari.
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Speaker 2: And she just she only like came to life in
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Speaker 2: my mind and said, build a shrine to me. And
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Speaker 2: I really I thought I was losing it, honestly, because
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Speaker 2: I hadn't had an experience like that before. And, of course,
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Speaker 2: once we get on the spiritual path, we may have many, many,
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Speaker 2: many mystical experiences. And we learn as ministers, but also
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Speaker 2: as spiritual beings that there doesn't really have to be
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Speaker 2: an intermediary between us and the divine. And I did
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Speaker 2: not really know who this entity was, but I began
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Speaker 2: to research and I discovered it was a goddess Lakshmi.
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Speaker 2: And I always say that Lakshmi adopted me very early
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Speaker 2: on during my process of learning about the goddess. I
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Speaker 2: was able to find an expert on Hinduism in New York,
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Speaker 2: who I knew, who I'd been buying, my friend Patricia
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Speaker 2: Keneally Morrison, who really helped me onto the goddess path.
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Speaker 2: She had taken me to this Hindu store where they
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Speaker 2: had a little like goddess icons. And I went back
12:25
Speaker 2: to that store right after I had this vision in
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Speaker 2: my bathroom. And I talked to Goyle, who was the
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Speaker 2: man who owned it. And I told him about this vision.
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Speaker 2: And I asked him if he could help me try
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Speaker 2: to figure out and he sat me down with a
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Speaker 2: box of really ancient postcards from India and said, Do
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Speaker 2: you see her in there? And sure enough, I saw Lakshmi,
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Speaker 2: although in the original vision, I didn't see all her
12:50
Speaker 2: four arms. And I later learned that sometimes she has
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Speaker 2: four arms, and sometimes she has two and she does
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Speaker 2: come to earth in different carnations. So maybe she was
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Speaker 2: visiting me in earth that day on earth that day.
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Speaker 1: That was a wonderful experience for you, and it really
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Speaker 1: opened you up to that path of the feminine divine,
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Speaker 1: which was your primary reason, really, in addition of starting
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Speaker 1: out with funerals, but this became your primary reason, your
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Speaker 1: calling into interfaith ministry. My path was a little bit different.
13:24
Speaker 1: Back in the late 1980s, I got involved with yoga
13:27
Speaker 1: and meditation, and that was followed by getting involved in
13:33
Speaker 1: Reiki healing. And in those days, if you wanted to
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Speaker 1: go into a hospital and place your hands near someone
13:39
Speaker 1: in a hospital, you either had to be a licensed
13:42
Speaker 1: massage therapist or ordained in a faith where that was
13:46
Speaker 1: one of the sacraments. And obviously, with a full-time job
13:49
Speaker 1: in the welding supply industry and welding technology, I couldn't
13:52
Speaker 1: take off two years and go to massage school. But
13:55
Speaker 1: through a number of wonderful synchronicities, I found out about
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Speaker 1: the New Seminary of New York and Rabbi Gelberman. My
14:02
Speaker 1: partner at the time, who was ill, she was actually
14:06
Speaker 1: ill at the time. She said, I know this rabbi
14:09
Speaker 1: who has this interfaith ministry. Why don't we sign up
14:11
Speaker 1: with them? And she brought me there and we introduced
14:15
Speaker 1: each other and we were introduced to each other. And
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Speaker 1: rabbi was so amazed at our relationship and what we
14:22
Speaker 1: were bringing. He said, I want her to join with you.
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Speaker 1: She doesn't have to pay any tuition. So it's just
14:27
Speaker 1: you pay your tuition. She'll join with you. You'll be
14:29
Speaker 1: partners in this training, which began in 1995. And we
14:34
Speaker 1: had our graduation and ordination ceremony in 1997. And that's
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Speaker 1: how you and I connected at that ordination seminary, the
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Speaker 1: energy connected in that ordination seminary. You want to describe
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Speaker 1: what happened?
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Speaker 2: Indeed. Well, I think it was another one of those
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Speaker 2: mystical experiences where You know, Rabbi, when I went and
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Speaker 2: gave him my deposit to start school, my program wasn't
15:00
Speaker 2: supposed to start till January the following year. And he said,
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Speaker 2: start now. Come to classes. We have the first year
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Speaker 2: classes on the beginning Saturday of the month, second year
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Speaker 2: classes on the third Saturday of the month. And come
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Speaker 2: to the ordinations, come to everything, just be part of
15:18
Speaker 2: the school. And I mean, He took me out to lunch,
15:23
Speaker 2: and when I was standing there actually talking to him,
15:28
Speaker 2: somebody came up and said, Rabbi, I'm going to be
15:32
Speaker 2: teaching about the divine feminine next week, Elizabeth Cunningham, who
15:36
Speaker 2: is in your class. And I said to him, can
15:40
Speaker 2: I come? And he said, yes, yes, absolutely. I mean,
15:43
Speaker 2: I couldn't believe that it just landed there. And then
15:46
Speaker 2: at some point, I think you actually wandered by and
15:49
Speaker 2: spoke to him because you were taking a bunch of
15:51
Speaker 2: people on a tour to one of the holy places
15:55
Speaker 2: in New York.
15:56
Speaker 3: And I.
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Speaker 2: Think that might have been the first time I actually
16:00
Speaker 2: saw you flip by. But it wasn't until Rabbi said,
16:04
Speaker 2: come to the graduation, which was your graduation with Judy,
16:07
Speaker 2: that I heard you speaking. And I heard your voice
16:10
Speaker 2: booming across St. John the Divine. And you were saying
16:15
Speaker 2: such beautiful things about her. And you really honored her.
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Speaker 2: And as somebody who had not been in great relationships prior,
16:24
Speaker 2: I thought, wow, where do you find a guy who
16:27
Speaker 2: talks about you in that way? And then, of course,
16:29
Speaker 2: very sadly, the next time I saw you was at
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Speaker 2: the next ordination, which was in January of another class.
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Speaker 2: And you were talking to my two deans at the time.
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Speaker 2: who I was sitting with, about your very difficult loss
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Speaker 2: and about how Rabbi had done the funeral. And when
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Speaker 2: you walked away, I said to them, who is that?
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Speaker 2: Who is that? And then they told me who you were.
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Speaker 2: And I thought, wow, this is, you know, I mean,
17:02
Speaker 2: I was, I thought, wow, he's a grieving widow. And
17:05
Speaker 2: I just, my heart goes out to him. And he
17:09
Speaker 2: seems like such a nice person and just such a
17:12
Speaker 2: loving person. And, you know, you just sort of landed
17:17
Speaker 2: in my heart in that moment. But I didn't think
17:21
Speaker 2: anything more than, well, you know, maybe I'll see you
17:25
Speaker 2: around at the seminary. And then I walk into my
17:29
Speaker 2: first introductory night of my class when it begins. And
17:33
Speaker 2: you're sitting up on the dais on the stage with
17:37
Speaker 2: my dean, who was your friend and who had asked
17:39
Speaker 2: you to be part of this class because she loved
17:42
Speaker 2: took on the role of teaching as a dean. And
17:46
Speaker 2: she asked you to help her with that with her program,
17:49
Speaker 2: which was my program. And I really sort of couldn't
17:52
Speaker 2: believe it, you led the meditation, and I was, again,
17:57
Speaker 2: listening to your voice. And then, you know, they used
17:59
Speaker 2: to teach us on audio tapes. And I remember sitting
18:04
Speaker 2: in the bath listening to my tape on Hinduism one day,
18:08
Speaker 2: I used to listen to my tapes in the bathtub
18:11
Speaker 2: because it was very relaxing and it's your voice. And
18:15
Speaker 2: I thought, wow, this, this guy is really sort of
18:19
Speaker 2: part of this sphere. But as you know, you were
18:23
Speaker 2: still in your own process of grief. And I was
18:28
Speaker 2: in my process of learning how to study and absorb
18:34
Speaker 2: information and begin to really get, um, 100% immersed in
18:41
Speaker 2: my training as an interfaith minister. So we really just
18:45
Speaker 2: developed a friendship very naturally over time by, you know,
18:49
Speaker 2: just sort of being around each other. And so that's
18:54
Speaker 2: a longer version of the story. But I do remember
18:57
Speaker 2: that after about two years of us being friends, and very,
19:03
Speaker 2: very friendly, you know, we you were the president of
19:05
Speaker 2: the synagogue, you knew Alex, I remember I was also
19:10
Speaker 2: studying the Ascended Masters and I thought, you know what,
19:14
Speaker 2: my soulmate is going to be somebody who knows who
19:16
Speaker 2: the Ascended Masters and the angels are. And I remember
19:20
Speaker 2: being at an event with you at part of the seminary.
19:23
Speaker 2: This is two years after we first, you know, that
19:26
Speaker 2: first connection happened. I mentioned something to you about the
19:31
Speaker 2: Ascended Masters and you said, oh yeah, I have the
19:34
Speaker 2: Book of Enoch and you just knew exactly what it was.
19:38
Speaker 2: And I thought, wow, that is really interesting because nobody
19:43
Speaker 2: else at the time was really sort of working with
19:46
Speaker 2: that kind of insight or aspect of of divinity at
19:51
Speaker 2: the seminary. So we connected on that level too.
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Speaker 1: And I have to share that in the beginning, in
19:57
Speaker 1: the first few months after my partner Judy had passed
20:01
Speaker 1: away and I was in these classes, I kept seeing
20:05
Speaker 1: Lori showing up at all these events and she would
20:07
Speaker 1: smile at me. And I asked my friend who was
20:10
Speaker 1: her Dean, who's this woman who keeps smiling at me?
20:13
Speaker 1: And that's Laurie Sue Brockway. And I said, uh, everyone
20:17
Speaker 1: who came to the seminary had some type of a
20:19
Speaker 1: career in addition to this pursuit, this, this calling. And
20:23
Speaker 1: I said, oh, what did she do prior to coming
20:25
Speaker 1: to the seminary? She was the editor in chief of
20:28
Speaker 1: play girl magazine. I said, wait a minute. I said,
20:31
Speaker 1: I'm not Mr.
20:32
Speaker 2: January.
20:32
Speaker 1: She's not smiling at me because of an attraction. Little
20:36
Speaker 1: did I know what was going on in her mind
20:38
Speaker 1: about building this relationship. And ultimately, as she said, our
20:42
Speaker 1: relationship ensued. And the reason the relationship really took off
20:46
Speaker 1: was she had called me at work one day. Alexander
20:49
Speaker 1: was ill and she was going through some trauma. And
20:52
Speaker 1: she said, I hate to bother you at work. I said,
20:54
Speaker 1: there's nothing more important to me than having this conversation
20:57
Speaker 1: with you right now. And I went into the conference
21:00
Speaker 1: room and I spent a half an hour on the
21:01
Speaker 1: phone with her, listening to her and letting her get
21:04
Speaker 1: all these feelings out and calming her and helping to
21:08
Speaker 1: reassure her that Alexander would be fine. And that's how
21:11
Speaker 1: our relationship really took off. And I'm grateful. Again, another synchronicity.
21:16
Speaker 1: We're going to be talking more about the 9-11 synchronicity
21:19
Speaker 1: when we come back for the next segment. But this
21:21
Speaker 1: is an example of another synchronicity where the energy that
21:25
Speaker 1: we had put out into the world, spiritual energy, brought
21:29
Speaker 1: us together into this wonderful relationship and this partnership. in
21:34
Speaker 1: spite of what we thought our callings would be. So
21:38
Speaker 1: we're going to talk more about that in our next segment.
21:40
Speaker 1: My guest, my beloved wife, Reverend Dr. Lori Sue Brockway.
21:44
Speaker 1: Lori Sue, what's your website in case people would like
21:46
Speaker 1: to check into you?
21:47
Speaker 2: It's RevLoriSue.com. R-E-V-L-A-U-R-I-E-S-U-E.com.
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Speaker 1: And in that website, she talks about her services. She
21:58
Speaker 1: talks about the weddings that she officiates and everything that
22:00
Speaker 1: she brings to this world. and the amazing number of books.
22:03
Speaker 1: She's written so many books on the topic of the
22:06
Speaker 1: feminine divine and other books, and I think people will
22:09
Speaker 1: enjoy them if they find them there. So we'll be back,
22:11
Speaker 1: and when we come back, we're going to be talking
22:13
Speaker 1: about the events of 9-11 and the synchronicities behind them
22:17
Speaker 1: and how that really identified a different path for us
22:20
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25:32
Speaker 1: Back on Destination Unlimited, my guest this week, my beloved wife,
25:36
Speaker 1: Reverend Dr. Lori Sue Brockway, we're talking about how we met,
25:40
Speaker 1: the callings that we had when we both attended the
25:43
Speaker 1: interfaith seminary, and how that manifested into something completely different
25:48
Speaker 1: with 9-11. So the morning of 9-11, I was out
25:52
Speaker 1: in Billings, Montana at a business conference for the software
25:55
Speaker 1: that the business that I was involved in used. Lori
25:58
Speaker 1: Sue was back in her apartment in New York. And
26:01
Speaker 1: we were watching CNN. We had CNN on our respective
26:04
Speaker 1: TVs in my room in her apartment. And it was
26:08
Speaker 1: about 8.50 New York time and about 6.50 in Billings, Montana.
26:14
Speaker 1: And so we're having a lovely conversation. And then all
26:17
Speaker 1: of a sudden, CNN breaks in with this bulletin, small
26:20
Speaker 1: plane hits tower at World Trade Center. And I said,
26:24
Speaker 1: did you see that on the news? And we both
26:25
Speaker 1: were attracted to watch what was going on. And within
26:28
Speaker 1: a few minutes, the second plane hit. We knew this
26:31
Speaker 1: was not an accident. We knew that there was something
26:34
Speaker 1: horrible Olympic happening. And that began this amazing journey that
26:39
Speaker 1: we took together. Laurie, do you want to describe what
26:41
Speaker 1: you were doing that day and what you.
26:42
Speaker 4: Had to do?
26:42
Speaker 2: Well, first of all, none of us will forget the
26:46
Speaker 2: voice of Aaron Brown on CNN reporting what was going on.
26:51
Speaker 2: I mean, every single station, it was amazing. extraordinary. I mean,
26:56
Speaker 2: it was it was unlike anything any of us have
26:59
Speaker 2: ever seen. And we didn't really know what was happening
27:01
Speaker 2: at first. So the first thing I did, after you
27:05
Speaker 2: and I spoke, I got off the phone just, you know,
27:08
Speaker 2: I was really worried about my son, obviously. So I
27:11
Speaker 2: got off the phone just to go outside and look
27:14
Speaker 2: to see what was happening. And I saw people rushing
27:18
Speaker 2: a crowd of humanity. I am not kidding. like just
27:24
Speaker 2: taking every inch of 2nd Avenue, walking toward the 59th
27:29
Speaker 2: Street Bridge. People were just trying to get out of
27:31
Speaker 2: New York. They were moving, moving, moving. And I came
27:36
Speaker 2: back down because I was on 2nd Avenue. I lived
27:39
Speaker 2: right up the block from the UN on 44th Street.
27:43
Speaker 2: And one of my neighbors had driven down to the
27:46
Speaker 2: towers on his bike and he was just coming back
27:49
Speaker 2: and he said, it's bad, it's bad. So I went
27:53
Speaker 2: back upstairs, I sent out an email, asking for prayers,
27:57
Speaker 2: while trying to get the school, my son's school on
28:01
Speaker 2: the phone. And, you know, I just was asking anybody
28:05
Speaker 2: I knew who was in my on my AOL email,
28:09
Speaker 2: to say a prayer for New York, something was happening,
28:12
Speaker 2: we didn't know. And now I have to just try
28:14
Speaker 2: to get my child out of school. He's out on
28:16
Speaker 2: the island. And One of the people I sent it
28:20
Speaker 2: to was a friend of mine who lived on the island,
28:23
Speaker 2: and she happened to be the mother of this pop
28:26
Speaker 2: star that my son, Alexander, adored. And she said to me,
28:30
Speaker 2: I have to go pick up my daughters. I can
28:34
Speaker 2: pick up Alex. And I got the school back on
28:39
Speaker 2: the phone. I said, a friend of mine, because they
28:42
Speaker 2: said to me at one point, pretty soon they said
28:45
Speaker 2: they're going to send the kids home. You know, at
28:46
Speaker 2: first they couldn't release them. Then they were like, we're
28:48
Speaker 2: going to send them home. You know, you have to
28:51
Speaker 2: get them or send somebody. And I didn't have anybody
28:54
Speaker 2: to send because you were in Montana and I couldn't
29:01
Speaker 2: get out to the island because everything went into lockdown
29:04
Speaker 2: very quickly. So Marianne went and got him and got
29:08
Speaker 2: all his special foods and the drink that he had
29:10
Speaker 2: to have and all his medical supplies. And she brought
29:13
Speaker 2: him back. to her home. And I was gonna try
29:19
Speaker 2: to pick him up from her house. And I just
29:21
Speaker 2: couldn't get there. I was going to try to go
29:23
Speaker 2: to my mother's house to make sure my mother was okay.
29:26
Speaker 2: I could not get anywhere. The train system was shut down.
29:30
Speaker 2: And then the bridges were shut down. There was nothing moving.
29:34
Speaker 2: Everything all over New York was in lockdown. So Marianne
29:39
Speaker 2: had a doctor, friend of hers in the neighborhood who
29:43
Speaker 2: helped her take care of Alex and I was able
29:45
Speaker 2: to get him the next day but it was frenetic
29:48
Speaker 2: and crazy and I saw both the the urgent leaving
29:54
Speaker 2: of the city of troops of people running from this
29:57
Speaker 2: disaster trying to get out, away, home. And then I
30:01
Speaker 2: saw the pure and utter emptiness and eeriness of our
30:06
Speaker 2: entire city being in lockdown. And then eventually, because I
30:12
Speaker 2: lived up the block from the UN, the block went
30:14
Speaker 2: into lockdown. So it was very scary.
30:20
Speaker 1: And I was out in Billings, Montana. I was the
30:23
Speaker 1: head of the group of the software participants that were
30:26
Speaker 1: at that conference. And the woman who was running that
30:30
Speaker 1: conference asked me if we should suspend the dinner, suspend
30:34
Speaker 1: the things that we were doing. We were supposed to
30:35
Speaker 1: have a gathering at dinner that night. And I said, no,
30:38
Speaker 1: let's have the gathering and I'll say a prayer. I'll
30:41
Speaker 1: open it with a prayer and allow people to share
30:44
Speaker 1: their feelings. And I sort of switched into my role
30:47
Speaker 1: as a counselor and a listener and as someone who
30:50
Speaker 1: was bringing comfort to those who were attending this dinner
30:54
Speaker 1: and attending this conference. And so we had that and
30:58
Speaker 1: Getting back to New York was very difficult. The first
31:01
Speaker 1: available flights out of Billings, Montana into Denver and then
31:04
Speaker 1: from Denver to Newark because the New York airports were
31:08
Speaker 1: closed was that coming Friday. I got back into Newark
31:11
Speaker 1: Airport and while flying in, we saw the smoke rising
31:15
Speaker 1: from the towers and from the site of the towers.
31:19
Speaker 1: And I got a taxi. I got into New York City.
31:22
Speaker 1: I got into Laurie Sue's. And the next morning I
31:26
Speaker 1: went to my business office to take care of some
31:28
Speaker 1: business items. And then Lori Sue had told me that
31:31
Speaker 1: she had found out about this family assistance center that
31:35
Speaker 1: they were building on the west side of Manhattan for
31:38
Speaker 1: those who had lost members of their family on 9-11
31:42
Speaker 1: or those who were waiting for word of their lost
31:44
Speaker 1: family members on 9-11. And she found out that they
31:48
Speaker 1: were having a training by the Red Cross, a chaplaincy training,
31:52
Speaker 1: and that we were going to attend that together. Do
31:55
Speaker 1: you want to tell them what happened?
31:56
Speaker 2: Well, in terms of synchronicity, I just want to mention
32:00
Speaker 2: that for some reason, unbeknownst to me at the time,
32:03
Speaker 2: when I was in the magazine world, I knew this
32:06
Speaker 2: psychiatrist who suggested to me, when I told him I
32:10
Speaker 2: was looking at having a different kind of career and
32:14
Speaker 2: going into ministry, he said, you know, The FBI and
32:17
Speaker 2: other organizations are always looking for chaplains because a lot
32:21
Speaker 2: of first responders don't like to talk to therapists, but
32:27
Speaker 2: they prefer to talk to chaplains. And he said it
32:31
Speaker 2: was just sort of a growing practice in the field
32:36
Speaker 2: of the world of first responders where they had to
32:39
Speaker 2: deal with such tragedies to create programs that train clergy
32:45
Speaker 2: on how to help. And he told me to take
32:48
Speaker 2: this training called Basic and Advanced Training in Critical Incident
32:54
Speaker 2: Stress Management and Post-Trauma Syndromes. And I enrolled in it.
32:58
Speaker 2: I went to Alabama. And for like four or so days,
33:03
Speaker 2: I sat in a room with a lot of clergy
33:06
Speaker 2: and pastors and chaplains who were so much more experienced
33:09
Speaker 2: than me. It was actually just two months long. It
33:15
Speaker 2: was actually the month after I graduated. I'm just looking
33:18
Speaker 2: at the dates. It was February 4th to 7th, 1999.
33:22
Speaker 2: And I graduated from seminary on January 16th that year.
33:28
Speaker 2: So it was just weeks after I'd graduated. And I
33:32
Speaker 2: was thrown into this really upsetting in terms of what
33:37
Speaker 2: we were witnessing to look at how the worst catastrophes
33:41
Speaker 2: that had happened in New York I mean, in the
33:44
Speaker 2: US had occurred and the way they were dealt with
33:47
Speaker 2: by emergency responders and the people who supported people spiritually
33:53
Speaker 2: through trauma. And I was honestly feeling very traumatized after
33:58
Speaker 2: I took the training because it was Oklahoma City was
34:04
Speaker 2: the big thing that had happened at that point. And
34:06
Speaker 2: they had photos and there were a lot of things,
34:09
Speaker 2: you know, when responding to a catastrophe, And there's a
34:13
Speaker 2: lot of ways that people have to really step up
34:15
Speaker 2: and help. And so I really had no idea that
34:19
Speaker 2: I'd be called to step up and help the way
34:21
Speaker 2: we did for 9-11. But sure enough, when I first
34:25
Speaker 2: heard that, what happened is I was watching television like
34:29
Speaker 2: we all were glued to our TV sets from wherever
34:32
Speaker 2: we were. And I saw people standing with reporters outside
34:37
Speaker 2: the New York Armory on 26th Street and Lexington Avenue
34:40
Speaker 2: in Manhattan. And there were walls of photos of missing
34:45
Speaker 2: people that were starting to get pasted on the walls.
34:49
Speaker 2: And there were people talking to reporters with pictures and
34:53
Speaker 2: posters and cardboard cut out images of their loved ones
34:59
Speaker 2: begging for help, crying for help, saying, my loved one
35:04
Speaker 2: went to work and never came home. It was terrible.
35:07
Speaker 2: It was siblings and parents and children. And everybody was
35:13
Speaker 2: just distraught asking for help. And so while you were
35:19
Speaker 2: still trying to get away from where you were stuck
35:23
Speaker 2: and get a plane back in, I just went down
35:26
Speaker 2: there to see what was happening. And they said they
35:31
Speaker 2: needed chaplains. And I brought them the credentials from this
35:36
Speaker 2: training I had done sort of as an afterthought. And
35:40
Speaker 2: they said, that's perfect. And I said, you know, my
35:42
Speaker 2: partner is going to be home any minute. He's going to,
35:46
Speaker 2: you know, he's trying to get back and he will
35:50
Speaker 2: be part of this too. And so they gave me, literally,
35:53
Speaker 2: they just wrote the word chaplain on a piece of
35:57
Speaker 2: white paper and pinned it onto me with a safety pin.
36:01
Speaker 2: Now that I think of it, there was one in
36:02
Speaker 2: the front and one in the back that they pinned
36:04
Speaker 2: onto me with paper and They didn't have the clergy
36:07
Speaker 2: vest that we had by the time we got to
36:09
Speaker 2: the family center. And I walked around and looked at
36:13
Speaker 2: what was happening there. And I realized that we had
36:17
Speaker 2: been devastated, that the world had been devastated, that this
36:21
Speaker 2: was just unlike anything. And I remember staying a little
36:27
Speaker 2: later at the armory because they did a candlelight ceremony.
36:31
Speaker 2: ceremony in the street when it turned around seven o'clock
36:35
Speaker 2: and people were hanging out of their their windows and
36:39
Speaker 2: people were crowding on the street and you know people
36:42
Speaker 2: were lighting candles from buses and any truck that was
36:47
Speaker 2: in the area supporting what was happening at the armory
36:51
Speaker 2: everybody stood still for a moment of silence and I
36:56
Speaker 2: just thought wow this is really this is amazing that
37:01
Speaker 2: everybody's coming together to try to do something, but what
37:06
Speaker 2: are we going to do? And so you and I
37:08
Speaker 2: later found that spiritual care was a very important part
37:13
Speaker 2: and very different from our own training as ministers.
37:18
Speaker 1: Absolutely. And we were trained by the Red Cross. That
37:22
Speaker 1: Saturday we took their class. We were named chaplains by
37:26
Speaker 1: the Red Cross. And we began a period of service.
37:30
Speaker 1: We would go to our day jobs by day and
37:33
Speaker 1: we'd do our spiritual work by night at the Family
37:37
Speaker 1: Assistance Center on the west side of Manhattan on a
37:39
Speaker 1: pier that was converted into this wonderful center for people
37:43
Speaker 1: to be counseled and cared for and giving them a
37:49
Speaker 1: place to be with others who had the same experience
37:53
Speaker 1: and then putting the clergy, those of us who had
37:56
Speaker 1: been trained, in this chaplaincy, into the center to sit
38:01
Speaker 1: and listen, to sit and pray with, to sit and
38:05
Speaker 1: comfort those who are awaiting word of their missing loved
38:08
Speaker 1: ones or who knew that their loved ones had perished
38:12
Speaker 1: in that horrible, horrible incident. So in any event, the
38:16
Speaker 1: greatest gift that we gave those people in that center
38:20
Speaker 1: was what I call the gift of true listening. Because
38:23
Speaker 1: one of the things that you learn when you do
38:25
Speaker 1: chaplaincy or any type of spiritual counseling is that the
38:30
Speaker 1: gift is to listen, to let someone share exactly what
38:34
Speaker 1: they're going through, to take every word into account, and
38:38
Speaker 1: not to interject any opinion, not to share anything else
38:42
Speaker 1: until they're finished sharing everything they have to share, and
38:45
Speaker 1: then offering them comfort and prayer. That's the gift of
38:49
Speaker 1: true listening. That's something that we really learn through this process.
38:53
Speaker 1: and something that has been important to us as the
38:56
Speaker 1: years have ensued. But again, we started out in interfaith
39:00
Speaker 1: ministry for totally different reasons, but the service that we
39:04
Speaker 1: were called to do on that period after 9-11 was
39:09
Speaker 1: something that was synchronistic, something that was highly spiritual, and
39:13
Speaker 1: a great purpose that we were called to do. And
39:16
Speaker 1: I know both Laurie Sue and I are grateful for
39:19
Speaker 1: the calling, grateful for the opportunity to share in this
39:22
Speaker 1: and to do everything that we were doing. And Laurie,
39:26
Speaker 1: so one other thing, I remember going to that, family
39:30
Speaker 1: assistance center and those posters that you were talking about
39:33
Speaker 1: from the armory were now lining the walls of the
39:36
Speaker 1: family assistance center. And we would see them and it
39:40
Speaker 1: would say, have you seen my daughter? Have you seen
39:43
Speaker 1: my son? Have you seen my husband? Have you seen
39:46
Speaker 1: my wife? And they were heart They would just tug
39:50
Speaker 1: at your heart in sympathy and compassion for those who
39:55
Speaker 1: were waiting for word of their loved ones. Do you
39:58
Speaker 1: have that feeling also?
40:00
Speaker 2: Well, you know, of course the walls were all over
40:04
Speaker 2: the city, but what happened at the family center, it
40:08
Speaker 2: was the longest wall I had ever seen, plastered with
40:15
Speaker 2: all of these images and photos. pleas that you're talking about.
40:21
Speaker 2: But the saddest thing, one of the most heartbreaking things
40:24
Speaker 2: is it turned from a plea for hope, a plea
40:30
Speaker 2: for help, a prayer for a miracle into memorials for
40:38
Speaker 2: people who were lost. I mean, people in the first
40:41
Speaker 2: days of the armory where they were starting to talk
40:46
Speaker 2: to people about everything that went on. By the time
40:49
Speaker 2: they got to the family assistance center, everything was set
40:52
Speaker 2: up for people to, who were, you know, either had
40:56
Speaker 2: losses or who were there that day, who barely escaped,
40:59
Speaker 2: who worked in the building. And the other thing that
41:03
Speaker 2: very sadly was set up was stations where people could
41:06
Speaker 2: bring DNA of their loved ones because at, you know,
41:11
Speaker 2: a very sad, and soon point in the recovery efforts,
41:16
Speaker 2: it became really like trying to find the folks who perished,
41:24
Speaker 2: who really were not still alive there. And those realities,
41:29
Speaker 2: that reality, it was a hard reality for anyone to face.
41:33
Speaker 2: And it took a long time for people to even
41:37
Speaker 2: come to a space to even consider it because they
41:40
Speaker 2: felt like they would be denying hope to their loved one.
41:46
Speaker 2: And so people held on for a long time. But
41:49
Speaker 2: over time, we began to get news of bodies that
41:53
Speaker 2: they had found DNA that had been discovered. And slowly,
41:58
Speaker 2: for some people, the news began rolling in. And what
42:03
Speaker 2: began as these beautiful pleas and hopefulness was memorial. And
42:11
Speaker 2: people set up very beautiful and meaningful tributes to their
42:15
Speaker 2: loved ones. And of course, at one point, there were
42:20
Speaker 2: teddy bears lining the pathway. People were sending bears from
42:25
Speaker 2: all over the world because studies had been done saying
42:28
Speaker 2: that people find comfort in loss if they have a
42:31
Speaker 2: stuffed animal. And there were tributes from all over the
42:35
Speaker 2: world that were landing at the center. But the other
42:40
Speaker 2: thing that happened, and I think what we both experienced
42:43
Speaker 2: as a minister, as we know, a lot of times
42:46
Speaker 2: people didn't ask for prayers or didn't have a particular
42:50
Speaker 2: faith request. Sometimes what would happen is they'd be standing
42:55
Speaker 2: at the wall, just looking at the beautiful picture of
42:59
Speaker 2: that person who never came back. And you'd walk by
43:03
Speaker 2: and just maybe stand there with them for a they
43:08
Speaker 2: would maybe sometimes collapse in our arms, crying. It was just,
43:16
Speaker 2: it was really, it was such sacred work. And that's
43:21
Speaker 2: why we really don't even talk about it that much,
43:24
Speaker 2: because it was such sacred work. And it's not anything
43:27
Speaker 2: that we would share with the media. And of course,
43:30
Speaker 2: we weren't even allowed to say anything about it when
43:33
Speaker 2: it was happening. And we only share now what we
43:36
Speaker 2: know has already been publicly shared about the family center.
43:40
Speaker 2: But we still respect and remember the people that we
43:44
Speaker 2: interacted with. I mean, some of them were just incredibly
43:48
Speaker 2: brave to even be able to stand there. Some of
43:53
Speaker 2: them came every day looking for word of their loved ones.
43:57
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
43:58
Speaker 2: You know, it was really something. And then, of course,
44:01
Speaker 2: our friend Dr. Judy Kuriansky was working there in the
44:04
Speaker 2: mental health division. There were a lot of people helping
44:07
Speaker 2: with the psychological and the spiritual aspects of people who
44:10
Speaker 2: were suffering through this direct trauma and loss.
44:15
Speaker 1: Absolutely. We were talking about synchronicities. And Lori Sue experienced
44:20
Speaker 1: an unbelievable synchronicity at one of the evenings that we
44:25
Speaker 1: were there. And Laurie Sue, do you want to tell
44:28
Speaker 1: us about it?
44:29
Speaker 2: Well, you and I were on our weekend, our Saturday
44:33
Speaker 2: night shift. We had a shift that started late on
44:36
Speaker 2: Saturday into the night. And we were walking through the
44:43
Speaker 2: cafeteria area. And I looked over at the table. And
44:46
Speaker 2: of course, anybody who was there who lost a family
44:50
Speaker 2: member had a green name tag. The name tags sort
44:55
Speaker 2: of had color coding so that we could tell who
44:58
Speaker 2: was there dealing with what. And it was really shocking
45:06
Speaker 2: when I saw my former in-laws, the mother and sisters
45:12
Speaker 2: and brothers of my ex-husband. We had not been in
45:17
Speaker 2: each other's lives for 15 years, but I was... very
45:22
Speaker 2: close to them at one point. And, you know, anybody
45:26
Speaker 2: who loses somebody who they had any connection to at
45:30
Speaker 2: any point, also becomes part of the circle of trauma.
45:35
Speaker 2: So I remember saying to you, Oh, my God, that's
45:40
Speaker 2: my former mother in law. And we walked over. And,
45:44
Speaker 2: of course, I, you know, I hugged her and she
45:48
Speaker 2: started crying. And she said, I, Laurie, I was trying
45:52
Speaker 2: to reach you. You know, we had a funeral for
45:56
Speaker 2: him yesterday. And she couldn't remember my contact number. But
46:01
Speaker 2: here we were the day after. And, you know, by
46:05
Speaker 2: some blessing, they were able to have remains to bury
46:09
Speaker 2: and to honor him. And now it was almost like
46:13
Speaker 2: a parting gift for me to learn about this from them.
46:17
Speaker 2: and have a chance to grieve with them directly instead
46:20
Speaker 2: of seeing a picture on the wall. And if you recall,
46:25
Speaker 2: we sat with them for a long time and also
46:29
Speaker 2: tried to help in any way we could. But it
46:32
Speaker 2: was an interesting moment in time where I was both
46:39
Speaker 2: the person who was grieving, the person in the circle
46:42
Speaker 2: of grief, and the person who was there to serve.
46:45
Speaker 2: And of course, I had to report this to our
46:48
Speaker 2: supervisor and he told me to go home and take
46:52
Speaker 2: care of myself. And I said, no, I want to
46:54
Speaker 2: stay here because now this is part of my life too.
46:58
Speaker 2: And so, you know, we stayed, finished the shift and
47:03
Speaker 2: it was just an extraordinary experience.
47:06
Speaker 1: And the synchronicity, if we had not been working in
47:10
Speaker 1: that shift that night, you might never have known.
47:15
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, obviously, it was heartbreaking to
47:20
Speaker 2: hear the news. It doesn't really matter what your past
47:24
Speaker 2: relationship is with somebody. If you're in a situation where
47:30
Speaker 2: somebody you once loved dies and dies in such a
47:36
Speaker 2: terrible and violent way, it's just unbelievably earth shattering. And
47:43
Speaker 2: I just felt so, so Heartbroken for his family, heartbroken
47:48
Speaker 2: for them. His mother had gone through so much loss,
47:52
Speaker 2: and he was just so important to this family. And
47:57
Speaker 2: the fact that he was no longer with them and
48:00
Speaker 2: that they had to face this grief was just really,
48:03
Speaker 2: just broke my heart.
48:05
Speaker 1: Now, one of the things you had talked about being
48:07
Speaker 1: traumatized and stressed out by what you were finding... And
48:11
Speaker 1: one of the things that the Red Cross had arranged
48:14
Speaker 1: was that we would gather with our supervisor at the
48:17
Speaker 1: end of each shift and have a, what did they
48:20
Speaker 1: call it, the session that we had?
48:22
Speaker 2: It was called a debriefing.
48:23
Speaker 1: Debriefing. And basically go around the circle of all the
48:27
Speaker 1: clergy who were serving as chaplains at the time and
48:31
Speaker 1: having them express any feelings. If they wanted to break
48:34
Speaker 1: down in tears, they could. If they wanted to say anything,
48:37
Speaker 1: whatever they needed to get off their chests. was welcomed
48:42
Speaker 1: at that debriefing session. And it was something that was
48:45
Speaker 1: the conclusion of every one of our nights of service
48:48
Speaker 1: ended up in one of these debriefings. And we were
48:50
Speaker 1: both so grateful for it, recognizing that we did not
48:53
Speaker 1: want to walk out of that building carrying any trauma
48:56
Speaker 1: with us, carrying anything painful with us. Obviously, the situation
49:02
Speaker 1: was painful, but ultimately to help us in our own
49:06
Speaker 1: work and to walk out with a sense of support
49:09
Speaker 1: and love, which was so, so important. So in any event,
49:13
Speaker 1: let's talk about some of the lessons we both learned
49:16
Speaker 1: during that time. Obviously for us collaborators, and the whole
49:21
Speaker 1: reason we're doing this podcast is that we had gone
49:24
Speaker 1: into the interfaith service work with one intention and the
49:30
Speaker 1: spirit and God, as you understand God and the creation
49:35
Speaker 1: of the world changed that day. and gave us an
49:39
Speaker 1: opportunity to be of service in a totally different way,
49:43
Speaker 1: a totally unexpected way, and in a way in which
49:46
Speaker 1: we both grew spiritually, I believe, correct?
49:49
Speaker 2: Yes, and I want to just also mention that we
49:52
Speaker 2: joined thousands and thousands and thousands of people who just
49:58
Speaker 2: rolled up their sleeves, whether they were search and rescue
50:03
Speaker 2: in the pit down where the tragedy happened, or psychological support,
50:10
Speaker 2: or a church like Trinity Church opening for first responders,
50:15
Speaker 2: giving fire people a place to rest. Everybody in this
50:20
Speaker 2: city tried to do something. And the support within the
50:25
Speaker 2: Red Cross itself, it was phenomenal. It changed the way
50:30
Speaker 2: this entire tragedy, and it created precedence for how tragedies
50:36
Speaker 2: at high levels could be treated in the future because
50:39
Speaker 2: they had to put together so many different aspects of
50:43
Speaker 2: physical care, getting people out of danger, helping people with
50:49
Speaker 2: financial stuff, helping people with medical stuff, and then helping
50:54
Speaker 2: all the grieving relatives, helping them physically try to locate
50:59
Speaker 2: their loved ones, helping them deal with burials. I mean,
51:03
Speaker 2: helping them deal with.
51:05
Speaker 1: Everything.
51:06
Speaker 2: So we were part of this huge circle of caregivers
51:11
Speaker 2: who were trying to just do our own small part
51:15
Speaker 2: to give back into this gigantic tragedy, which had not only,
51:21
Speaker 2: you know, stolen the life of 3000 people, but had,
51:24
Speaker 2: you know, stolen New York from, had stolen from the world,
51:33
Speaker 2: had taken and depleted our safety and put everybody on
51:39
Speaker 2: edge in ways that we had never experienced before. So
51:42
Speaker 2: we were part of this care network.
51:45
Speaker 1: And it also unified our country like never before. I
51:49
Speaker 1: can't remember a time when people came together, not just
51:53
Speaker 1: in New York, but throughout the United States. in loving
51:56
Speaker 1: support and caring for one another, uh, unprecedented. We had
52:00
Speaker 1: never had anything like that. And I'm grateful for that opportunity.
52:04
Speaker 1: And I hope that we return to that same situation,
52:07
Speaker 1: not through any type of terror or, or disaster or
52:10
Speaker 1: horrific occurrence, but to recognize each other as sisters and
52:15
Speaker 1: brothers and embrace each other in that way in a
52:17
Speaker 1: world that really needs that right now.
52:19
Speaker 2: You're so right about that. And also, you know, it
52:21
Speaker 2: was an era in which, uh, Nobody cared about what
52:26
Speaker 2: anybody's political party was. You know, when the governor, who
52:31
Speaker 2: was Republican, showed up to help, everybody loved him for
52:36
Speaker 2: doing it. And when the president came to try to
52:39
Speaker 2: do his part, everybody worked together. It was not this big.
52:44
Speaker 1: Division.
52:45
Speaker 2: You know, it was just a whole different world. And
52:48
Speaker 2: everybody really... A lot of people also had miracle stories.
52:55
Speaker 2: that it's so sad when you lose so many and
52:58
Speaker 2: you lose so much. But then it is also so
53:02
Speaker 2: extraordinary when you hear these just amazing stories of people
53:07
Speaker 2: who were supposed to be there and had to take
53:10
Speaker 2: a kid to school and they were late or people
53:13
Speaker 2: who had some kind of magical intuition about things. I mean,
53:18
Speaker 2: there were also stories of people who survived it and
53:25
Speaker 2: live to tell their stories. And those are very inspiring.
53:29
Speaker 2: And I just want to also say that the 9-11
53:32
Speaker 2: Memorial and Museum is keeping all those oral histories and
53:36
Speaker 2: stories alive. And they keep the entire story of that
53:40
Speaker 2: day alive through their exhibits and the beautiful reflecting pools
53:44
Speaker 2: that they created and the museum that they created to
53:47
Speaker 2: honor that event. And generations of people will be able
53:51
Speaker 2: to remember it Because the museum has found a way
53:55
Speaker 2: to keep the sacred stories of the day, of what happened,
54:01
Speaker 2: and of each individual alive and in public memory and
54:07
Speaker 2: available to people in just the most extraordinary way.
54:11
Speaker 1: And sort of to wrap this up, I just want
54:13
Speaker 1: to say that I am grateful for the opportunity to
54:17
Speaker 1: have been of service during that time. What I didn't
54:20
Speaker 1: mention was that the company that I worked for at
54:23
Speaker 1: the time was sending truckloads of oxygen, acetylene, safety goods,
54:28
Speaker 1: anything and everything that the first responders needed at ground zero,
54:32
Speaker 1: our company was sending truckload after truckload after truckload. So
54:36
Speaker 1: I was doing that by day and then by night,
54:39
Speaker 1: had this wonderful opportunity to be of service and to
54:42
Speaker 1: open my heart to those who were suffering and waiting
54:45
Speaker 1: for word of their loved ones And just grow in
54:49
Speaker 1: so many ways, especially spiritually, with the recognition that we
54:54
Speaker 1: are all here for a higher purpose. Every one of us,
54:56
Speaker 1: I don't care if you've been to a seminary or
55:00
Speaker 1: any type of job, I believe we all have a
55:03
Speaker 1: higher purpose. And that higher purpose, as I mentioned before,
55:06
Speaker 1: was to give an extension of kindness and support and
55:10
Speaker 1: love to our sisters and brothers in a world in
55:13
Speaker 1: which we need to show that support for one another.
55:17
Speaker 1: Laurie Sue, thank you so much for joining me tonight
55:19
Speaker 1: and sharing our story. And Laurie Sue, one more time,
55:22
Speaker 1: please share with listeners your website and how they can
55:25
Speaker 1: find out more about you.
55:27
Speaker 2: My website is RevLaurieSue.com, R-E-V-L-A-U-R-I-E-S-U-E.com. And of course, all my
55:37
Speaker 2: books are on Amazon under Laurie Sue Brockway. And I'm
55:41
Speaker 2: happy to always share those with people. And thank you
55:45
Speaker 2: for putting together this beautiful show, honey.
55:48
Speaker 1: Thank you, darling. And again, we're grateful to everyone who
55:52
Speaker 1: has joined us to listen to the story of synchronicity
55:56
Speaker 1: and higher purpose, which came into our lives and allowed
56:00
Speaker 1: us to be of this service to our sisters and
56:04
Speaker 1: brothers here in the New York City metropolitan area. Laurie Sue,
56:07
Speaker 1: thank you so much. To everyone who joined us, thank you.
56:10
Speaker 1: Have a wonderful week.
56:12
Speaker 2: Blessings to all.