He saved the world
And no one on the planet knew what happened
They still fail to recognize him today
Even though his action saved their very lives
and make possible their posterity
The whole world was in his hands
its destiny at the tip of his fingers
For that brief moment
he held the scales that balance the nations
War and peace was his to determine
Life and death, his to command
Ten thousand martial messengers
were waiting on wing-tip in the shadows
He chose life and peace
esteeming the human race
believing the world deserved
the benefit of a doubt
For that we should be grateful,
indebted that he remained calm
as scores panicked around him
Tell your children and grandchildren
of that fateful, sleepy Sunday afternoon
When an unlikely savior bought them time –
a lifetime – and lifetimes to come,
with one decision
It bothers me that so few know his name
What is more troubling is how those who do know
seem not to care what he did.
We know about the sports idols,
the perfect goddesses of the flat screen
But what have they done for us, really?
None have saved us
Nor made the world a better place.
Sadly, It is always the same:
We worship those who gratify us
while we scorn our Saviors
My dream is to go to Moscow
Take a cab to the small apartment of a pensioner
And there meet – and even embrace –
Stanislav Petrov,
the man who scratched his head,
stroked his chin
and in reflecting so, saved the world.
Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov (Russian: Станислав Евграфович Петров) (born c. 1939) is a retired Russian Strategic Rocket Forces lieutenant colonel who, on September 26, 1983, deviated from standard Soviet doctrine by positively identifying a missile attack warning as a false alarm.[1]
To read about Stanislav Petrov’s heroic decision go to the following link: http://www.brightstarsound.com/world_hero/article.html
writer’s note: It is ironic that Petrov made this decision shortly after midnight, which was September 26th for him. It was still September 25th for Americans. Thankfully he allowed us all to see what he was seeing: September 26th.
Lamar Howell's Weblog 
Fascinating!
Cool beans!
The Easy Button picture was annoying to me until just now when I realized what it referred to. Duh….
My brother-in-law was an interesting character in the early 70s. He went on a tour of a missile bunker one time. The officer who was guiding them showed them a console and said, “That button right there is the one that launches the nuclear missile.” My brother reached over and punched it.
Of course, nothing happened, because there are other steps that have to occur, but the officer blanched white. I don’t remember if I asked why he punched the button.
Interestingly, he said that in one college class he took that included military officers as well as civilians, the professor posed the question of how they would react if they were President and the Soviets launched a missile by accident that would hit a major US city. In the scenario, the Soviets notify the US government that it was unintentional, but there is no way to stop it.
To a man, the officers said they would not retaliate under those circumstances. And nearly to a man, the civilians said they would!
Isn’t irony lifelike?
Brother-in-law, not brother.