By DONNA THORNTON, Editor
Under a brilliant blue sky Friday morning, a group of personnel from Albertville Fire & Rescue and other departments made a 3.43-mile run at Sand Mountain Park.
It was a run for remembrance and rescue, to honor the sacrifice of first responders who died as a result of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, 2001, and to recognize the sacrifices all first responders make and the invisible wounds dealing with tragedy and trauma can inflict.
Runners were cheered on by family members, fellow responders and Albertville High School students bearing signs and cups of water.
After the run, there was an opening ceremony, with the national anthem and colors presented by the Marshall County Tech School’s Honor Guard.
Julianna Jarvis, Veterans and First Responders Coordinator at Mountain Lakes Behavioral Healthcare, introduced guest speaker Michael Acquaviva, a retired investigator with the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office, an Iraq war veteran, a Bronze Star for Valor recipient, and an Audie Murphy Award recipient.
“If nothing else we can give you one day where we take care of you and you can come out and have fun,” Jarvis said. “The mental aspect of the job is very real. It’s not a sign of weakness. Mental health, wellness, those are things that make it possible for you to do this job and retire and still have some quality of life.”
Acquaviva told those gathered – including first responder softball teams representing six counties – that the events of 9/11 are often remembered in terms of architecture, of the Twin Towers and the Pentagon being attacked.
“But the true foundation of that day and every day since is not made of stone and concrete,” he said. “It was built from the human spirit, from the men and women who ran toward the smoke while the world was running away.”
He said the debts owed to firefighters, police, paramedics, dispatchers and rescue workers can never be repaid, calling them the guardians who stand between chaos and order, heartbreak and hope. Every time crisis strikes, he said, they live out the Christ-like quality of self-sacrificing love by responding without asking who needs their help.
While honoring those who fell on 9/11, Acquaviva said, we should also honor those who survive and “continue to carry the unseen weight of every call that followed.”
Physical wounds can be seen; broken bones can be fixed, he said. “But the invisible wounds, the memories that linger after the sirens go quiet, the images that flash when we try to sleep, the weight of the lives we couldn’t save, those scars are etched directly onto the soul.”
First responders bear the cumulative weight of witnessing tragedy day after day. “Mental health is not a separate issue from spiritual health or operational readiness,” he said, and struggles with it are not a sign of spiritual weakness or lack of faith; it’s a natural human response. He noted even the strongest servants of God needed rest and restoration. “Even Jesus, carrying the ultimate mission, frequently withdrew to quiet places to rest and restore his spirit,” Acquaviva said.
“He did not abandon his mission by resting. He preserved himself to fulfill it,” he said.
“It takes just as much courage to raise your hand and say ‘I am struggling, I need help.’ Real faith is not pretending you are unbreakable. Real faith is having the humility to admit when you are wounded and the trust to allow God and the people he puts around you to bring healing to your spirit.
“We cannot ask our first responders to carry the weight of our community if we leave them to carry their own pain in solitude,” Acquaviva said. All departments need to build a culture, he said, where seeking help is viewed not with stigma, but with Christian love and support.
He urged first responders to honor those lost on 9/11 with commitments to living whole, health, and restored lives. “May you grant yourself the same grace and compassion you so freely offer to strangers in their darkest hours,” Acquaviva said. “May you find the strength to reach out when the load gets too heavy.”
The rest of the day was spent in a softball tournament, with various department pitted against one another in friendly competition.
Jarvis said the goal of the tournament was to build comradery and support among first responders, and just to provide a fun break from their routine. It also served as a fundraiser to provide assistance to first responders through Mountain Lakes Behavioral Healthcare’s veterans’ and first responders’ programs.
Local first responders begin their run Friday at Sand Mountain Park in Albertville. Photo by DONNA THORNTON l The Leader
