REMEMBERING SEPTEMBER 11TH
Within a few minutes the phone began to ring. Patty Baker, my Administrative Assistant, was speaking to her husband. Something terrible was going on in Manhattan. "A plane has just hit the World Trade Center!" she announced, noting that rumors were already spreading. I quickly returned to the house, turning on the television just in time to see the second plane slam into the WTC. It was horrifying, surreal - like watching a science fiction movie - and yet it was not fiction. Then came the word that Islamic terrorists had hijacked planes in Boston and elsewhere and were carrying on suicide attacks in New York and Washington. The Pentagon was hit! A plane had crashed in western Pennsylvania when the passengers battled the terrorists for control of the aircraft--another plane destined for the nation's capital.
September 11, 2001 was the day America lost its innocence. The War on Terror had arrived on our shores in an undeniable and life-altering way. No longer were we the happy, carefree citizens consuming, crowding the malls, playing, working, studying, raising families, rooting for our favorite teams, traveling wherever we desired when we desired. Places of public gathering took on the stench of death. Air travel became a dangerous risk. Strangers became enemies, especially if they were of Middle Eastern descent. The bombings and everyday fears that defined life in so many other places in the world became a real possibility for people on this side of the Atlantic.
Stories of incredible sacrifice and heroism began to fill our front pages and nightly news reports. Having experienced a brutal sneak attack by persons bent on destroying our way of life, we saw the finest of spirits arise in everyday people. The decent side of our common humanity asserted itself and we pulled together working, praying, and caring. Determination to meet this challenge and visit justice upon the evil doers united Americans of many walks of life and political persuasions. The simple faith of our newly elected President, George W. Bush, was seen as a sign of hope.
For a time there was a reawakening of the spiritual hunger of our nation. As is often the case in times of great crisis, Americans drew close to God and filled its houses of worship. People seem unashamed to call upon
the Almighty for solace and for strength. But as many a pastor
Now, nine years later, I wonder what lessons we have learned as Americans. I wonder how much our plans and pretensions have accomplished. In particular I honor those men and women of the armed forces who have had their lives unalterably changed by going into battle to protect the freedom we so cherish and to push back against those who threaten us. But I wonder, as we use our freedom in America in ways so unchastened by events like September 11th, if those men and women are laboring in vain. The threats within from the shallow self-serving and narcissistic culture we persist in perpetuating may not threaten us with same violence as Al Quaida or the Taliban, but can as surely destroy a healthy, wholesome, God-honoring way of life as those enemies from without.
"Do not use your freedom for license," the apostle Paul declared in a time long before America's founding. Will we ever learn that lesson?
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