September 11

" In the last days, nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more. Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid. All the nations may walk in the name of their gods." [Micah 4: 3]

Where were YOU on September 11, 2001? This is the question on everyone's lips lately.

In a previous generation, people would ask each other, "Where were you when President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed?"  In the generation before that, people would ask each other, "Where were you when Pearl Harbor was bombed?"

On that now infamous day of 9/11/01, I was at home with my young son, who was a baby then. I had just brought him upstairs after breakfast. It was what I call a "blue and gold day", the sunshine radiating brightly, permeating the clear air, the sky as brilliant as a precious blue jewel. It was the kind of day, as my grandfather would have said, that made you glad to be alive.

It was only a few minutes before nine a.m. I was in my bedroom with the baby. The house was silent.
Suddenly the phone rang, piercing the stillness. I picked it up. It was my husband. He did not even say hello, just, "Are you watching this?" I asked what did he mean? He said, "You better turn on the TV!"

My husband and I had met in New York. We had worked in Manhattan and lived there for a few years. New York City had become our home town. I turned on the television in time to see the first plane hit the tower. The plane looked tiny compared to the massive size of the twin towers. I made a joke about King Kong and small planes flying into the Empire State Building. It turns out, a very bad joke.

In fact, many years earlier, I had flown into New York at night and the plane was so close to The World Trade Center, I thought, How easy it would be for a plane to hit the towers. No matter all the lights on top of the towers, why did we have to build such tall skyscrapers? Wasn't that dangerous?

Just at that moment, the baby tumbled off the bed onto the soft carpet. I gasped. As I picked him up, he started to cry. I comforted him. He was alright. The real crisis was on the television screen.

Then the second plane hit. I did not know what to think. we saw footage of the Pentagon on fire and the thirs plane crashing in Shanksville, PA.

All sorts of things went through my mind-- this cannot be an accident if a second plane-- and then a third plane-- has hit so close in time to the first. Then, my God, I could have been in or near those towers; I used to commute  through the World Trade Center stations when I lived in NYC! I would have been on the lower level at exactly 8:45 a.m.!

I could not watch, but I also could not turn my attention away from what was unfolding. I saw firefighters running into the building, fully loaded with gear. I thought frantically, "NO! Don't do it! Don't go in there! You will be trapped!"

I had to shut off the television. I wanted to escape the violent images. I dressed the baby and took him outside into that beautiful day. The weather was surreally beautiful. I thought, ironically, "This is the day that the Lord has made.!' I thought that being outside would comfort me. I love nature and I love how all of the natural world manifests God's majesty and glory. That day, the glory and majesty of my surroundings seemed a dreadful mockery. Worse yet, there was absolutely no one out and about. I would receive no comfort in going outside into the world. There was no one there.

There were no cars on the road. No people walking their dogs, jogging, gardening in their yards. All was deathly still. It was as if someone had declared a solemn national holiday but I was the only one going about the day-- or trying to.

It did not matter where I was, inside or outside. Anywhere I went, I felt a sick knot in the pit of my stomach. This was how I had felt when I came home at age 14 and no one was home and I realized something had gone awfully wrong; when my mother came in and told me that her mother had died suddenly. It is that sick feeling you get when your world is abruptly and violently turned upside down.

Must each generation ask itself such gut wrenching questions: Where were you on this infamous date?

My young son is becoming more and more aware of the world, especially in this global era of ours. He asks, 'Why do the English and Irish have to hate each other? Why do the Japanese and the Chinese not get along? Why are the Turks and the Greeks not friends?'

These questions break my heart. I do not have any answers. I can only tell him,'I think it is because they do not understand each other.' My son replies, 'I am going to grow up to be an ambassador and teach these people about each other. Then they will not hate each other any longer, and there will be peace.'

In the aftermath of the attacks, my young nephew asked his mother, "Mom, why do they hate us?!"

So now my heart breaks AND I am also ashamed. A child is teaching us what it takes to bring nations together, so that "nation will not take up sword against nation nor will they train for war anymore." In the aftermath of 9/11, we  have had only more war, the war that is now the longest in our nation's history. From my son's perspective, we have been at war as long as he can remember.

What does it take for there to be peace in the world? The antidotes to war and fear are not just peace and courage. No, the antidotes to war and fear are love and knowledge.

Where was the love that awful day of September 11, 2001? Certainly not in the multiple attacks on our nation.

Yet --I saw the love in the brave firefighters entering the towers to try to save as many people as possible. I saw the love in the passengers of Flight 93 that came down in a field in PA, choosing to sacrifice their own lives rather than seeing their plane being used as a weapon. I saw the love in the French newspaper Le Monde headline: "Nous sommes tous Americains" [We are all Americans].  I saw the love in the response of the people of Halifax, Canada, where most North American flights were diverted that day; the Nova Scotians opened their schools, their churches, even their homes to stranded passengers. I saw the love in the experience of a friend staying in Europe at the time; everywhere she went, Europeans came up to express their  condolescences.
"May all nations walk in the name of their gods and may no one make them afraid." May we all be one people and love one another deeply.

(c) The Spiritual Devotional 2011. All Rights Reserved.