Tower One Rescue

Stanley Praimnath was a banker working on the 81st floor of Tower One. On the morning of Sept.11, 2001 he had felt a need to pray earnestly for his own safety and the welfare of his family. He didn’t know why but he spent extra time asking the Lord to protect him that day. To quote him, “For some particular reason I gave the Lord a little extra of myself that morning. I said, Lord, cover me and all my loved ones under your precious blood. And even though I said that and believed it, I said it over and over and over.”

Glancing out the window at work, he noticed that Tower Two was on fire. He and a friend decided to evacuate but a security guard assured him that Tower One was safe. Back in his office a second look out the window revealed that an American Airlines plane was headed straight for him. He frantically ducked under the desk and curled up in a fetal position shortly before it hit only 20 feet away from him. The wing of the plane was ablaze in the doorway to the offices. He was also trapped by rubble and could not move. He prayed for help and suddenly felt like “the strongest man alive”. He escaped from the debris, dodged the flames but found all exits blocked and he trapped against a wall. He made contact with a man on the other side of the wall. Together they broke a hole through it and found a stairway. On the concourse at the bottom flames confronted them. Dousing themselves under the sprinklers they fled through the flames to safety.

I don’t know all the answers to why some are rescued and others not. I don’t know why I was born in a relatively peaceful and prosperous country while others suffer war, famine and poverty. But we can all be thankful for what we do have.

Grateful for the sunny side,

Henry Wiebe