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Remembrance, Regret, and Redemption
September 13, 2011
September 14, 2011
This past Sunday was the tenth anniversary of 9/11. It is a day that is etched in our communal consciousness, forever marked in our shared history by that great historically grounding statement: "Where were you when..." In the generations before, it was Pearl Harbor or President Kennedy's assassination and now it was September 11, 2011. We remember the moment we heard the news of what was happening, that moment that caught in our breath and shook us to our core. We knew at that moment that our world had just changed. In the ten years since we have seen war and consequence, we have experienced fear and jubilation, we have tried to move on while forever remembering the loss and sacrifice of that fateful day. It is safe to say that in the ten years since 9/11 things have changed. Some for the better, and some for the worse (I will never be happy with having to take my shoes off at the airport). We have changed also. 9/11 was a day full of fear and death and that day gave way to days of anger and vengeance. That anger and vengeance led us across the world and into two wars seeking "justice" and "righteousness". The anger and vengeance reared its ugly head here as well, as attitudes and perspectives towards Muslims greatly shifted.
I can not honestly remember if I had an informed opinion of Islam before 9/11. I really don't recall it being of great priority. But in the moments after the attacks you could feel a perceivable shift in feelings toward Muslims. All of a sudden, Christians were writing letters to the editor and protesting in front of proposed mosques. All of a sudden message boards online were filled with "experts" on Islam spouting random varied pieces of the Koran as justification for why we should fear and hate all followers of this religion. All of a sudden, people who presumed to sit under the grace of God were casting judgment and condemnation on these "others". One-billion people who were faithfully trying to understand and connect with God, some in the only way they knew how, were suddenly lumped into the "crazy fanatical bin" with a small, small group of lunatics. This great travesty would be akin to all Christians, you and I and every sweet, loving, caring grandmother you have ever sat next to in the pew, being lumped in with the KKK and their fanatical actions. How would you feel to be lumped in with these extremists as "examples" of your faith?
9/11 is a day that we must remember not only because of the loss, but because of the great sacrifice of that day. The 418 first-responders who gallantly rushed into the burning towers to try and save strangers. The young men and women who have stepped forward to serve their country in the ten years since, leaving behind family and home to go to Iraq and Afghanistan. The families left behind, who pray every day for safe returns; who rejoice tearfully when those prayers are answered, and who crumble when they are not. The last ten years have shown us great sacrifice, and that sacrifice deserves more than what we have given it. That sacrifice deserves people who are willing to talk and listen with those whose faith is different from ours. That sacrifice deserves Christians who are willing to put the tenets of Jesus first again in their lives; tenets like "Love your enemy" and "Turn the other cheek". That sacrifice deserves Christians who are willing to follow Christ beyond the hour of Sunday school and the hour of worship; willing to follow Christ even when it is hard to do so, even when it goes against our human inclinations, even when it forces us to confront our feelings of anger and revenge. The sacrifices of that day and every day since deserve more from us; how will we respond? How will the next ten years go? What choices will we make that will do honor to those sacrifices. The choices are ours to make. Let us go forth from this point and do better, live like Jesus, honor these sacrifices, and let us never forget that fateful day and how it changed our world and us.
God Bless Mark
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