September 11, 2020
I learned of the attacks on the World Trade Center when my co-worker called me from his car while driving down on the West Side Highway on the morning of an ordinary workday. “Turn on your radio,” he said. “We’re under attack.”
I stopped my van on the overpass to JFK airport and just sat there in my van glued to the vision what was unfolding as I watched the skyline of Manhattan and the twin towers shrouded in huge billows of smoke. All the commentators’ speculation ended when the second plane hit and it became clear that this disaster was intentional, not an accident. I stepped out of my vehicle and stood beside a bus driver who had stopped next to me and was now kneeling on the pavement praying and crying. A moment later, the first tower began to collapse…and the world became suddenly silent. Then shortly after, something no one could have ever imagined took place live on network television. Two of the mightiest man-made monuments in the world simply vanished in a cloud of darkness before our eyes.
September 11 changed not only how I viewed my own existence, but the lives of all Americans.
I choked up when the Congress sang “God Bless America”; and when the Buckingham Palace guard played the “Star-Spangled Banner”; when a solitary bag-piper played “Amazing Grace” in Union Square; and hundreds of New Yorkers as they walked around in a daze holding photos of their missing loved ones, or sheltering candle flames in their cupped hands. I watched on TV as Dan Rather broke down during an interview and was being comforted by David Letterman. I felt a sudden surge of loyalty and unity with my country that was new to me.
Scott Simon put words to it in a National Public Radio editorial after the WTC attacks.
Patriotism is not based on a blind belief that the United States has no need to change, he said. God knows we need to change in many ways. Rather, our love for America rests on the belief that the changes that are needed, are more likely to occur here than anywhere else in the world.
The following is an excerpt from the journal of Gordon MacDonald;
And more than once I asked myself—as everyone asks—is God here? And I decided that He is closer to this place than any other place I have ever visited. The strange irony is that, amidst this absolute catastrophe of unspeakable proportions, there is a beauty in the way human beings are acting that defines the imagination.
Everyone—that is, everyone—is everyone else’s brother or sister. There were no strangers among the thousands at ground zero. Everyone talks; everyone cooperates; everyone does the next thing that has to be done. No job is too small, too humble, or, on the other hand, even too large. Tears ran freely, affection was exchanged openly, exhaustion was defied. We all stopped caring about ourselves. The words ‘it’s not about me’ were never more true.
Every time I walk through the halls of John T. Mather Hospital, my eyes are drawn to the mission statements that are crafted onto the walls. One in particular is repeated several times throughout the Hospital…it is this quote from the Dalai Lama.
” If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.
19 years ago, when tragedy struck our nation, people forgot about race. color and religion because then, all lives mattered. What has happened to our country since then? Why has all that love and compassion been replaced by hatred and violence?
I would like to close this reflection with a prayer from the committal service I use at Calverton Cemeteries.
Lord God,
Whose days are without end and mercies beyond counting, keep us mindful that life is short and the hour of our passing unknown.
Let your spirit guide our days on earth in the ways of holiness and justice, that we may serve you in union with the whole world, sure in faith, strong in hope and perfected in love.
Amen.
