[nfbwatlk] Fw: A touching tribute

[Mike Freeman]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Frida Aizenman" <aizenman at earthlink.net>
To: <nfb-reno-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2007 9:51 AM
Subject: [Nfb-reno-l] A touching tribute


Hello Federationists:

The article below features Federationist Michael Hingson. Very 
interesting!

Maryville Daily Forum, MO, USA
Monday, March 05, 2007

A touching tribute

By JOHN LUDWIG

Caption: Michael Hingson and Roselle, his nine-year-old guide dog, spoke 
to students from Horace Mann Laboratory School Monday afternoon. 
Hingson, who
is blind, was lead out of the burning World Trade Center on 9/11 by 
Roselle. -PHOTOS BY JOHN LUDWIG/Daily Forum

Speaker tells students how his canine companion became a dog of honor

She's received awards, accolades and medals.

She's been to the White House at a personal invitation from President 
Bush.

She's met Queen Noor, the Queen of Jordan, heads of state, congressmen 
and the Prime Minister of New Zealand.

And she has a cold wet nose.

She's Roselle, a 9-year-old yellow labrador retriever who escaped from 
the 78th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center when it was 
hit by a
hijacked airplane on 9/11; all the while leading her owner, Michael 
Hingson, down the stairwell and out of the burning building to safety.

Hingson has been blind since birth, and Roselle is the fifth guide dog 
he's owned.

On Monday afternoon, Hingson spoke to students from Horace Mann 
Laboratory school about their experiences in the wake of the 9/11 
attack, describing, in
detail, how they left the building, and how people with disabilities do 
things differently in their daily routines.

He was in Maryville as the featured speaker for the Northwest Missouri 
State University spring Ploghoft Lecture.

"I don't get to do things the way you do, and you don't get to do things 
the way I do," Hingson said to the assembled classes.

In telling his story, Hingson told the students that having a disability 
doesn't impair him from doing many of the same everyday things that the 
rest of
us do.

"What I wish in the world is that more people would understand how other 
people do things," he said. "I do things differently than you, but I can 
still
do the same things that you do."

He even does a lot of the cooking around the house, as well as grilling 
and barbecuing for him and his wife, who is disabled and in a 
wheelchair.

"She doesn't walk, and I don't see," Hingson said. "So she reads the 
book, and I push the wheelchair - it works out well."

Hingson told students that while he may do things differently than them 
(his computer talks to him, he has a special watch to "feel" the time 
with his
fingers and he reads braille), with Roselle's help, he can still move 
around on his own.

"The point is that I can walk around, and I can walk around safely," he 
said of Roselle's aid.

For example, when crossing a street, Hingson said Roselle's job "is to 
make sure that we walk safely," but there's a large measure of trust and 
teamwork
involved.

"It was up to me to tell her when to start, but she had the authority, 
she had the right to change our direction because she doesn't think it's 
safe,"
he said.

Hingson has owned Roselle for about seven and a half years now. And, as 
any guide-dog-to-owner relationship must, the two have gone through a 
lot together,
strengthening their bond and tightening their trust.

But nothing can compare with that early Tuesday morning in 2001 when 
Roselle and Hingson had to rely on each other as never before.

At the time, Hingson worked for the sales division of Quantum ATL, a 
company that designed backup libraries for computer data recovery.

His office was on the 78th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade 
Center in New York City, about 1,000 feet above street level.

"When the airplanes hit, we had no idea what was going on," Hingson 
said. "We never knew what really happened until after both towers fell."

The force of the impact was so great that the North Tower flexed with 
the blow, tipping outward almost 20 feet, Hingson said.

After evacuating his employees, Hingson and his friend David (who 
remained in the office with him during the evacuations) and Roselle 
began their long
twisting flight down the stairwell of the North Tower.

"It took us an hour to walk out of the building," Hingson said. "That's 
how high up we were."

While traveling down the stairs, all the while lead by Roselle, Hingson 
and the thousands of other people exiting the building were enduring 
ever-rising
temperatures from the fires raging above them. Temperatures rose to more 
than 90 degrees as they made their way down the stairs, the smell of 
smoke and
the harsh fumes of burning jet fuel wafting through the long passage.

"It was very quiet on the stairs," Hingson said.

After descending for some time, firefighters passed Hingson and Roselle 
on the stairs, asked if he was OK, and continued on up to combat the 
fire.

Hingson said he remembers people cheering the firefighters on and 
clasping several of them on the back while Roselle gave affectionate 
kisses to them.
They would be among the 2,973 people who died in the attack and the 343 
New York City firefighters who gave their lives that day.

While they were making their way down the stairs, the second tower was 
hit by another hijacked airplane.

Hingson said that in the tight partnership an owner and guide dog share, 
the animal often reacts to their handler, and he had to focus on 
remaining calm
while she lead them down the stairs.

"If I acted nervous, Roselle would be nervous because she'd be worried 
for me," he said. "She really looks to me for guidance, which is why 
it's important
that the team relationship be a close one. So while we were going down 
the stairs, I knew it was really important for me to keep calm and 
encourage Roselle
along the way. She focused on her job and did a really wonderful job."

After exiting the building, nearly an hour after their descent had 
began, Roselle lead Hingson away from the tower.

They had only been out of the building about 20 minutes when the first 
tower collapsed. Smoke, soot, ash and debris rained down from above 
while Roselle
tugged and pulled Hingson along.

"We had to run to save our lives," he said. "I survived because I 
learned to work with Roselle. I learned to work as a team to trust her. 
Even though I
couldn't see, I was able to do that just like other people who can see."

Hingson and Roselle escaped the tumbling pieces of the World Trade 
Center and the flames and smoke that fell from the sky. Together. They 
were covered
from head to toe with hot soot, but none the worse for wear.

"We were very close to it," he said. "Everyone was covered. Absolutely 
covered."

Since that day, Hingson has taken a job working as the national public 
affairs director for Guide Dogs for the Blind, the company who trained 
Roselle.

They've traveled the world, appeared on Larry King Live, and shared 
their story with thousands of people the across the globe. All the while 
stressing
the importance of balancing love and trust in a relationship, and how, 
no matter what abilities or disabilities we have, people can be stronger 
together,
as a team.

Hingson characterizes Roselle as a happy dog who "likes to sleep and 
likes to relax." But there's no arguing their importance to each other, 
and the strength
of the bond they share, forged through the worst disaster in America's 
history.

And if Roselle's idea of a good time is to lay on the grass, under the 
sun, relaxing and sleeping, who's to blame her?

After all, if there's one dog that deserves a little break, it's her.

She's earned it.

jludwig at maryvilledailyforum.com

http://www.maryvilledailyforum.com/articles/2007/03/05/news/news1.txt

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