Sharing an important message

Coral Wilson

At 8:45 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001, New York firefighter Bob Senn was

reading the newspaper and enjoying a cup of coffee.

At 8:46 a.m., his life changed forever.

Senn has spoken about that fateful morning to 15,000 firefighters

in the last year and a half. But facing a multi-purpose room full of

third, fourth and fifth-graders, as he did last week at Circle View

Elementary School, makes him more nervous.

“You guys have so much in front of you and so much facing you with

the economy and threat of war,” Senn said. “I get nervous, I want to

say the right thing.”

There was no warning that he might not come home that day or that

he would lose seven friends from his Brooklyn firehouse, Senn said.

“You never know when your life is going to change,” he told the

children. “I lost friends, some I met when I was your age.”

The experiences Senn described might have been hard for the

children to comprehend or relate to at such a young age, but they

listened intently to his message. With all of life’s uncertainties, a

person’s family stays constant, he said. And teachers are essential

in shaping one’s life.

The outer ring of teachers, parents and community members blushed

and lowered their heads as Senn had the children stand, turn to face

them and applaud their hard work.

“You need to take the time out to tell your parents that you love

them,” Senn said. “Tell your brothers and sisters, no matter how

painful. And they will say, ‘What is wrong with you?’”

He advised the big guys in the class not to pick on the little

guys.

“It is harder to be someone’s friend than to pick on them,” he

said.

Senn was inside one of the buildings that fell. He was thrown

across the lobby and wedged under the desk, which saved him. He was

one of only 37 survivors inside the building. He suffered burns,

blisters and broke his arm. He still suffers from post-traumatic

stress disorder.

One day, during the digging, they found a part of the lobby area

he was in and the remains of two police officers. Senn knew that

would have been the day that his family would have come down to

identify him.

“I saw some horrible things that I hope you guys will never have

to see,” he said. “Most people get one shot at life, for some reason,

I got two.”

His wife refused to believe he was dead and the couple survived

the aftermath that destroyed many other couples.

“If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be doing this, I wouldn’t be on

my feet,” Senn said. “I would be in a rubber room.”

He asked the children, “If you had no family, no home, where would

you go every day after school?”

Despite the disturbing experiences that still haunt him, Senn

remains 100% committed to the job that he loves. But in addition to

his regular duties, he has found new meaning in telling his story.

Hands of curious children sprouted from the audience. Senn did his

best to explain the unanswerable -- questions that still mystify

adults: “Why would they want to crash into the building if they knew

they were going to die?, Do people actually think it was [Saddam]

Hussein that got Mohammed to attack, or Osama Bin Laden?, How did it

happen?, How did you survive?, Were you scared?, Will you be signing

autographs?”

“I am like the guy next door, I am a regular guy. But if [my

autograph] means something to you, absolutely,” Senn agreed.

The last question came from 8-year old Connor Thomas.

“Is the Empire State Building still standing?” Connor asked.

“Yes, thank God it is,” Senn responded.

“Yeah,” Connor said, quickly dropping back to the floor as

teachers, parents and his fellow students cheered.

* CORAL WILSON is a news assistant who covers education. She can

be reached at (714) 965-7177 or by e-mail at

coral.wilson@latimes.com.