By Julie A. Miller
Catholic Herald

Fireman, deacon reflects on terrorism, brotherhood of firefighters

SUPERIOR -- Images of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington D.C. have been etched on the memories of people around the world. Among the images are pictures of firefighters bravely returning to search the rubble, knowing that hundreds of their brother firefighters died and lay buried in the collapsed buildings.

What makes them do it?

According to Arthur Gil de Lamadrid, fire inspector with the Superior Fire Department, it is a desire to serve, a calling to help, that motivates people in all service professions. "If we know somebody is in need of our help and we can help them, we try to do that."

Gil de Lamadrid, a fireman in Superior for seven years, has dedicated himself to a life of service. In addition to his job with the fire department, he is a deacon at the Cathedral of Christ the King Parish and the fire department chaplain.

Not everyone in the fire department is religious, Gil de Lamadrid said, but he sees the life of a firefighter as very religious. "We are told in Scriptures that we should love one another, and I think that love has to extend to all people. That's what we do in the fire service too -- we serve everybody regardless of who they are," he said.

There is a special brotherhood of firefighters. Gil de Lamadrid said, "You always have some kind of rapport with people you work with, but I think the fire service is kind of unique in the sense that the people you work with, you live with also.

"There is also a strong sense in which we're trained to rely very strongly on each other. There is a sense in which your life depends on the people you work with," he continued. "I think all those things kind of contribute to that brotherhood on the department and it just extends to other fire departments, too."

To show support for the firefighters in New York, members of the Superior Fire Department set up a shrine outside of their headquarters. They also joined the police department and others in collecting money for the "New York Fire 9/11 Relief Fund" to aid the families of the firefighters who died in the rescue attempts at the World Trade Center.

The best way for ordinary people to help is by praying and by contributing money to help those who lost loved ones, Gil de Lamadrid said.

When Gil de Lamadrid first learned of the attacks, he immediately thought of terrorism. "When I first realized what had happened here -- that we were in a state of war -- the first thing that occurred to me was that we as a civilization have failed again. My thought is not to blame someone else but in a sense realize that we all contribute to this problem. I think we live in a society where we continue to use violence as a way of solving our problems. It's not just the terrorists and it's not just Ôthem' or Ôthose people over there', it's all of us. To the extent we do that, we fail to live out the message of the Gospel. We fail to care for the future."

Gil de Lamadrid said, "I wanted to get my children home and apologize to them and say ÔYou know I'm really sorry that we failed -- that I failed -- and this is the world you are getting.'"

Gil de Lamadrid and his wife Janette have two children, Meghan, 16, and Daniel, 12.

As terrible as the events of Sept. 11 were, Gil de Lamadrid said the leaders of the United States shouldn't rush to seek revenge. "We have to remember that we think of ourselves as a civilized society. We think of ourselves as a nation under God. We think of ourselves as a society where people have rights and where we should be slow to judgment."

Gil de Lamadrid has been watching the news, and like many people still finds it hard to believe the attacks really happened. "It still seems like a fairy tale, that I'm going to wake up and its going to be over."

The terrorist attacks also remind him that one of the calls as Christians is to be forgiving. "Every time I pray I need to pray for the people who did this. That is one of the hard things about being a Christian. Nobody said it was easy being a Christian.

"We need to forgive the people who did this and we need to pray for them. And we have to want justice for them, as well. We can't just say, ÔWe want their heads,' or ÔWe want them dead or alive.' We have to say we want justice for them," he explained. "In our society that means that we need to have incontrovertible proof."

According to Gil de Lamadrid the biggest challenge for the country's leaders in reacting to the attacks is to lead towards peace, love of neighbor and justice.

"I think one of the dangers that we see whenever a horrible crime has been committed is that right away we want to play God. We want to punish them and in a very real sense what we are looking for is revenge -- vengeance. But the Lord said, ÔVengeance is mine' and the Lord will take care of all things," said Gil de Lamadrid.

Hudson native describes terror in New York

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© Superior Catholic Herald, 2001