Tomorrow is the 25th Anniversary of September 11, 2001. It is so important for those of us who were alive on that day to remember the soul-searching scenes and the words that came our way:
On Monday, we e-mailed jokes.
On Tuesday, we did not.
On Monday, we were fussing about praying in school.
On Tuesday, we would have been hard pressed to find a school where someone was not praying.
On Monday, our heroes were athletes.
On Tuesday, we relearned who heroes are.
On Monday, there were people trying to separate us by race, sex, color, and creed.
On Tuesday, we were all holding hands.
On Monday, we were irritated that our rebate checks had not arrived.
On Tuesday, we gave money away gladly to people we had never met.
On Monday, we were upset that we had to wait 5 minutes in a fast food line.
On Tuesday, we stood in line for 3 to 5 hours to give blood for the dying.
On Monday, we argued with our kids to clean up their rooms.
On Tuesday, we couldn’t get home fast enough to hug our kids.
On Monday, we went to work as usual.
On Tuesday, we went to work, but some 3,000 of us didn’t come home.
On Monday, we had families.
On Tuesday, we had orphans.
On Monday, September 10th, life felt routine.
On Tuesday, September 11th, it did not.
What a difference a day makes.
My Commentary:
Tomorrow marks the 25th anniversary of September 11, 2001. For those of us who lived through that terrible day, the memories remain painfully vivid. We remember where we were. We remember the images. We remember how suddenly the ordinary became precious.
September 11th taught us how quickly life can change. On Monday, we worried about schedules, money, inconveniences, and disagreements. On Tuesday, we worried about husbands, wives, children, friends — and strangers we had never met.
For a brief moment, many of the walls separating us seemed to disappear. People prayed together. They gave blood. They donated money. Firefighters and police officers ran toward danger while others fled. Neighbors comforted neighbors. Strangers embraced.
St. Joan of Arc Parish in Boca Raton had a vocation night scheduled that evening for young men and women interested in priesthood or religious life. Over 300 young adults showed up.
Jesus spent His life trying to teach us what tragedy taught us in a single day: Love God. Love your neighbor. Treasure people more than possessions. Serve one another. Life is fragile, and every day is a gift.
The great sadness is that it sometimes takes catastrophe to remind us that we belong to one another. Today, twenty-five years later, our nation has sadly forgotten that.
Twenty-five years later, in a nation again deeply divided, perhaps the best way to honor those who died is not simply to remember how they died, but to remember how we lived afterward.
We held hands.
We helped strangers.
We prayed.
We rediscovered what really mattered in America.
September 11 changed America in many ways. May this anniversary remind us of something we must never lose:
We are at our best when tragedy does not have to teach us to love one another.
Is a horrible tragedy like September 11th the only way that can help us to see and to live life differently? God forbid, but if another September 11th happened today, do YOU think our divided country would come together and see and live life differently? Why do YOU say that?
In YOUR own life, how has a particular day made a real difference in how YOU see others and in how YOU see YOURSELF? Has that real difference come and gone, or has it lasted a lifetime for YOU?
GOD LOVES BROKEN PEOPLE, BECAUSE BROKEN PEOPLE ARE ALL THAT THERE ARE!
Please tell someone you know about Treatsforthesoul.org. Do invite them to subscribe. I record a podcast every day. Please invite others to listen.
