“We are holding our own.”
Captain
Ernest M. McSorley, SS Edmund Fitzgerald, November 10, 1975.
I lived five blocks from Lake Michigan
when the Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior. Four hundred miles separated
where twenty-nine men lost their lives and where I stood throwing rocks into
the waves.
The following year, Gordon Lightfoot
released a classic song about the maritime tragedy. We hear it every year when
the skies of November turn gloomy.
I am not sure why I have always felt such a
connection to this historical moment, but it was an event that stayed with me.
One of the first model ships I glued together was the Edmund Fitzgerald. It was
proudly displayed on my bedroom dresser throughout the 1970’s.
Today's quote comes from the last radio
transmission of Captain McSorley, a seasoned sailor nearing retirement after a
remarkable career.
What makes those five words so powerful is
their simplicity. No grand speech, no surrender, just a captain reassuring
another ship that he and his men were still fighting.
Sometimes courage isn't about winning the
battle. Sometimes it is simply about holding your own when everything around
you is falling apart.
Last words have a way of staying with us.
The countdown to the holidays is in today's
grabber. Tomorrow is Remembrance Day and the beginning of my fifteen days of
thankfulness, leading into my favorite holiday.
Our weatherman here at the Morning
Chalkboard tells me today is the last sunny day with a sixty handle for the
next few days. Maybe for longer than that…
Go out and get some sun on your face, some
gusto in your heart, and astonishment in your soul today Chalkheads!
