Remember 9/11

I remember vivdly walking to English class during the early part of my first semester of college. Because my SAT scores were barely under the set standards, I was in a remedial English class which (not to their discredit) included a number of Carolina's finest athletes. Walking through crowds of people I gatherd from cell phone snippets that something was on the news; however, I was more concerned feeling embarrassed that the assignment from a class I was ashamed to be taking was actually hard. Upon finally arriving in class we heard news from two athletes who ironically knew more than I did aboutf what was happening in New York.

"Something about one of the World Trade Center buildings was hit by a place, or is on fire, or something," she alerted us, "It's all over the news." Our professer quickly dismissed us appeasing our overriding interests to watch the news rather than hear his lecture.

Returning to my dorm room I found my room mate watching his computer screen (something he did 90% of the time) with the news on the TV in the background. I remember just how our room was set up that day, where I sat, and how I felt watching and learning the details of the terrorist attack on our country using two passanger filled missiles to bring down our tallest buildings, a third to strike the Pentagon and a fourth which never reached its destination no doubt due to the actions of the heroes on board. I remember it all.

Isn't it funny how our most celebrated moments in life (weddings, graduations, birthdays) fade into our memories as fuzzy shadows of jubilation and happiness, but the hardest, most terrifying, paradigm shifting moments in our lives are etched into the granit of our memory's stone tablet. The world's greatest poker players cannot remember the hands of how they won their fortunes, but I'm sure each of them can recall the specific cards in each hand of those times they lost the biggest. Isn't that funny.

Perhaps we remember moments like September 11th, 2001 so vividly so that we can learn lessons, remember our loved ones, not repeat mistakes, and realize the lasting effects of violence. 9/11 taught me that we can't rely on our tallest buildings to harald us as a great nation but rather on our fortitude and strength of character. It taught me that redemptive violence is a myth, and that we ought to pray for God to bless every nation not just our own.

So, today, this week and this month as you are remembering 9/11, remember where you were and how it changed you. Remember the courage shown by so many representative of our country. Remember the damage of violence. Remember that what matters in this life is just that. . . life.

"Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance." Psalm 33:12