[PLUG-TALK] Rick Rescorla Opera

[Keith Lofstrom]

One of my favorite books is "Heart of a Soldier" by George Stewart,
about Rick Rescorla, perhaps the greatest hero of 9/11 .  After the
1993 truck bombing of the WTC, when the NY Port Authority would not
improve security nor release Merrill Lynch from its lease, security
manager Rescorla held frequent evacuation drills for Merrill
Lynch employees.  When the plane struck Tower 1, Rescorla quickly
evacuated his people from Tower 2, overriding or disabling Port
Authority public announcements for people to remain at their desks.
He evacuated 3700 employees, singing "God Bless America" and "Men
of Harlech" over his bullhorn to keep everyone focused and moving.
He and three security colleagues went back in to find two missing
employees, and all were killed when Tower 2 collapsed.  This man
was a true hero, halving the potential 9/11 deathcount and giving
his life to do so.  

Someday, when we finally learn to "make war no more", I hope we
find other ways besides soldiering to train heroes like this.

I was thrilled to learn that the San Francisco Opera commissioned
an opera in honor of Rescorla, premiering on September 10, 2011 .
I can't afford to go, but I've written the opera requesting a
DVD recording of the performance.  I encourage others to find
the book and read it, and also ask the S.F. Opera to share their
opera with the world.

Keith

-- 
Keith Lofstrom          keithl at keithl.com         Voice (503)-520-1993
KLIC --- Keith Lofstrom Integrated Circuits --- "Your Ideas in Silicon"
Design Contracting in Bipolar and CMOS - Analog, Digital, and Scan ICs