Remember
So. Where were you?
You know, where were you when you realized that planes were slamming into the World Trade Towers 25 years ago? If you were alive and lucid on that day, I’m sure you remember, in the same way that some remember where they were when the Kennedy brothers were assassinated, or the Challenger Space Shuttle exploded. Tragedies have a way of grinding their imprint on our memories so that we don’t forget.
One wonders why.
Why do our brains hold on to these moments in such a way? Perhaps it is because of the shock of these events that, until they happened, were considered unthinkable, if not impossible. But these things did happen, and in the process 3000 people (mothers, fathers, children, friends, wives, husbands) died. Approximately 1100 of those never had their remains identified.
And so, we remember, right? We remember where we were and how we felt, and in fact, how everyone felt. Maybe that’s the key: we were agonizingly aware of how this impacted everyone. We turned our eyes from the television and looked at each other, shaking our heads, as if to say, “Can you believe it?” because we knew this affected all of us.
People have said that they wish we were the same country we were on 9/12/01. Because for once, our human instincts compelled us toward helping, not hurting, bonding, not dividing. We came together. I’d like to think that there is something in the human “being” that longs for that bonding, that coming-together. We don’t want tragedies that, for some awful reason, seem to be necessary to make it happen, but we long nonetheless.
If we had any doubt before, we learned on that day that God does not prevent bad things from happening, even to good and faithful people. But God is always seeking to bring a goodness out of the darkest of circumstances. In a time when we are more divided than I can remember us ever being, I do long for more occasions to come together, as Americans…as human beings. Could it be that as we remember and relive that terrible day twenty-five years ago, that we can also remember and relive the bonding that blossomed between us?
My goodness, I hope so. Because twenty-five years from now, I hope that the coming-together will still be worth remembering.
Pastor Brad
You know, where were you when you realized that planes were slamming into the World Trade Towers 25 years ago? If you were alive and lucid on that day, I’m sure you remember, in the same way that some remember where they were when the Kennedy brothers were assassinated, or the Challenger Space Shuttle exploded. Tragedies have a way of grinding their imprint on our memories so that we don’t forget.
One wonders why.
Why do our brains hold on to these moments in such a way? Perhaps it is because of the shock of these events that, until they happened, were considered unthinkable, if not impossible. But these things did happen, and in the process 3000 people (mothers, fathers, children, friends, wives, husbands) died. Approximately 1100 of those never had their remains identified.
And so, we remember, right? We remember where we were and how we felt, and in fact, how everyone felt. Maybe that’s the key: we were agonizingly aware of how this impacted everyone. We turned our eyes from the television and looked at each other, shaking our heads, as if to say, “Can you believe it?” because we knew this affected all of us.
People have said that they wish we were the same country we were on 9/12/01. Because for once, our human instincts compelled us toward helping, not hurting, bonding, not dividing. We came together. I’d like to think that there is something in the human “being” that longs for that bonding, that coming-together. We don’t want tragedies that, for some awful reason, seem to be necessary to make it happen, but we long nonetheless.
If we had any doubt before, we learned on that day that God does not prevent bad things from happening, even to good and faithful people. But God is always seeking to bring a goodness out of the darkest of circumstances. In a time when we are more divided than I can remember us ever being, I do long for more occasions to come together, as Americans…as human beings. Could it be that as we remember and relive that terrible day twenty-five years ago, that we can also remember and relive the bonding that blossomed between us?
My goodness, I hope so. Because twenty-five years from now, I hope that the coming-together will still be worth remembering.
Pastor Brad
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