Reflection
On this anniversary of that tragic day, we remember how we were united in shock and pain. There were no divisions then. We did not ask what race, what religion, what political party, or what country of origin were the dead. We did not withhold our compassion for their husbands, wives, partners or children. Americans had been attacked; Americans had died; America was in mourning and rightly so. Today, twenty years later, we still remember them; we still honor them; we still mourn; we still feel our shock.
Yet, painfully, we have changed since then. We mourn now over the divisions, the violence, the hatreds that have surfaced since that day of national unity and are wringing the life out of us. We are a nation hostage to violence, a people being robbed of their compassion and their soul. Even as we commemorate this sad anniversary, the lines between “us” and “them” are harsher blurring our national identity. We mourn and remember those we lost on 9/11, but sadly, we are no longer a healthy testament to the America for which they died.
As we commemorate this painful anniversary let us also mourn for this nation which has become unmoored from truth and reality and seems numbed out of its rational humanity. Let us mourn because the fragile democracy which we cherish is being frayed by self-interest and exclusive power.
Why have we forgotten who we thought we were and where is the national pain we should be feeling and sharing over it? From this pain may we learn compassion and from this division may we learn to restore the power of union. May the memory of those who died because of hate free us from our own hatreds. May our tears not be wasted on separation and anger but become our balm of healing.
Prayer
God of wisdom and compassion create newness out of evil. Make us instruments and agents of creation as we strive to turn challenges into opportunities and blessings for others and ourselves.
Action
Reflect on the united mourning of a nation after 9/11. Think of our response now. Where is our united public mourning for all that has happened and is happening? Where is our clarity on what is trying to destroy us? How can we each become agents of healing?
Suggested Reading
A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.
Jeremiah 31:15
Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.
Matthew 12:25
Leave behind the self-interest that hardens your heart, overcome the indifference that makes your heart insensitive towards others, conquer your deadly reasoning, and open yourself to dialogue and reconciliation. When man thinks only of himself, his own interests and places himself in the center, when he permits himself to be captivated by the idols of dominion and power, when he puts himself in God’s place, then all relationships are broken and everything is ruined. Then the door opens to violence, indifference and conflict. Can we get out of this spiral of sorrow and death? Can we learn once again to walk and live in the ways of peace?
Pope Francis
As glass shattered, cement crumbled and steel melted in the inferno of senseless cruelty, the heart of humanity screamed in anguish. September 11, 2001 — a day when the evil potential of misguided ego was again exposed. While our landmarks collapsed in a cloud of smoke and debris, beneath a surge of shock and rage, something awakened in our hearts: compassion. Suddenly, our worldly obsessions faded away as we cried for the plight of others. In memory of this tragic day, let us join hands and pray for God’s grace to heal, unite and empower us to serve with love.
Unknown
No matter where we came from, what God we prayed to, or what race or ethnicity we were, we were united as one American family… as we honor the memory of those we have lost, let us summon that spirit once more. Let us renew our sense of common purpose. And let us reaffirm the bond we share as a people: that out of many, we are one.
Barack Obama
The pictures stay with us — the fires and falling debris, and, most hauntingly, the faces. Look how young so many of them were, people who thought there would be much more time, a lot of ‘later’ when they could do all the things they really wanted to do. I grieve for their families — especially for those, like me, who haven’t found any trace of the people they loved. But I grieve even more for the people who died that day. They couldn’t know what we know now about the precious gift of time.
Cokie Roberts
If you don’t breathe the spirit of the nation, if you don’t have a fierce sense of belonging to each other, you’re not going to sacrifice for the common good.
David Brooks
True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else.
Clarence Darrow
If we learn nothing else from this tragedy, we learn that life is short and there is no time for hate.
Sandy Dahl
Remember the hours after Sept. 11 when we came together as one! It was the worst day we have ever seen, but it brought out the best in all of us.
John Kerry