9/11: Never Forget

It's Tuesday, September 11.  Eleven years ago, it was also a Tuesday.  I was at a MOPS meeting at our church.  It would have been our first meeting for the school year.  Because of my position as treasurer, I wasn't in the meeting right away.  I remember having to go into the church office for something.  Our church secretary had the radio on.  The news was that a plane hit one of the Twin Towers.

Of course, everyone is saddened by a plane accident, especially when it hits such a highly populated place like NYC, but, of course, we now know that there was more going on than that.  It's been so long that I can't tell you exactly how the news unfolded for me, but I know that it didn't take long to learn that planes were hijacked and our country was under attack.

After a rather unsettling MOPS meeting, we all went home, and, I'm sure, many of us were glued to the news that day.  My boys were 3 years old and 3 1/2 months old at the time.  Now, at ages 14 and 11, they only know about this day from what we share with them and what they learn in school.  While I know that they will never FEEL the way we felt on that day 11 years ago (and the days to follow), I hope that the lessons we learned from all of it will not be forgotten.

Eleven years ago, this country came together and said "NO".  "NO" we won't be a victim.  "NO" we won't back down to your threats.  "NO" we won't live in fear.  As we are in an election year, I watch the posts on Facebook.  We all have different ideas of who should be in office and why we like that candidate.  I think that is fine, but when I see posts that poke fun or insult people with different views, I feel we have forgotten what we learned at 9/11.  The people who hate our country, hate all of us.  They don't care about our religious or political views.  When elections come, they can get heated and I think they can easily divide us.  We need to learn to be respectful, whether we agree or disagree, for two reasons.  First of all, insulting someone's views or way of life will never get them to dialogue with you so you can find common ground.  It only creates a wedge.  If you are a Christian, how do you expect to share God's love with someone if you aren't showing it?  If you spent more time talking respectfully with others, you may find you have more in common than you think.  Secondly, we are allowing division, once again, in our church, our community, and in our country.  On June 16, 1858, Abraham Lincoln said "A house divided against itself cannot stand."  At the time of the speech, the country was divided on the issue of slavery.  These days, we are divided on other issues that, while they aren't slavery, can enslave us.  I strongly believe that our country and the freedom we have is a gift from God.  Eleven years ago, we sat in horror as we watched (and felt) our sense of security be snatched from us in just a few minutes.  I believe our freedoms in this country can be lost as well if we don't stand together in mutual respect.  We don't have to agree, but God tells us to love.  We can take a stand for what we believe in but we are not to attack others.  Taking a stand and attacking are very different.

I want to leave you with a video from The Skit Guys.  I think it can express things better than my blog. I love your comments.  I hope you'll leave one here.  Where were you on 9/11?  Please share.