[Cagdu] FW: A touching tribute

Wed Mar 7 12:54:13 PST 2007

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A touching tribute

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 maryvilleda <mailto:jludwig%40maryvilledailyforum.com> ilyforum.com

http://www.maryvill
<http://www.maryvilledailyforum.com/articles/2007/03/05/news/news1.txt>
edailyforum.com/articles/2007/03/05/news/news1.txt

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