Come on up for the rising...

This is another "where a song can take you" post, only this was has a photo involved as well.

This evening, as I drove across the mountains that are the eastern wall of the Shenandoah Valley, I played Bruce Springsteen's CD, The Rising.

That is his "9/11" CD. I like most of the songs on it. The title song, though, is my favorite. It may not be the best on the album; anyway the critics don't seem to think so. But everytime I listen to it. I can't help but remember a picture from that day. It was of a fireman in a stairwell at the World Trade Center.

He was loaded down with gear and drenched with sweat. He was a young looking 30-ish. What was really notable was the smile on his face. On that day. In that place. He was smiling. It was the sort of involuntary smile people wear when they are doing something they love, that they are meant to do.

Left the house this morning
Bells ringing filled the air
Wearin the cross
of my calling
On wheels of fire I come rollin down here

He was on his way up the stairwell, as far as he could go, to do his job.

I don't know if he got out or not.

Can't see nothin in front of me
Can't see nothin coming up behind
I make my way through this darkness
I can't feel nothing but this chain that binds me
Lost track of how far I've gone
How far I've gone, how high I've climbed
On my back's a sixty pound stone
On my shoulder a half mile of line

The depiction of the fireman climbing into the tower to save lives is powerful enough, but the chorus sends the song into the place of the spirit.

Come on up for the rising
Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight

It is almost scriptural; "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." But these weren't even friends in the towers. They were total strangers. And he still went up the stairs.

The "rising"; the lifting up, is most fitting. Bruce Springsteen wrote an amazing song about amazing people. We are coming up on the sixth anniversary of the day and the picture. Many will mourn, all will remember, some will misuse the day. We should all celebrate the courage and grace, and the goodness, that we saw that day.

For the fireman in the picture, and in the song:

Come on up for the rising
Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight

Amen.