Tomorrow the nation will commemorate the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon, and in the skies above Pennsylvania. I have been to the site in Manhattan only once since the terrible event, but in a sense most of us are never far from Ground Zero. The horror and heartbreak of that dark day remain.
But today I am thinking about September 10, 2001. It was a typical Monday, a workday that saw millions of commuters clog the streets and highways of the nation. For me it was a day of office responsibilities, interacting with family and friends, paying the bills. I'm sure I never pondered the possibility that the world as we knew it was about to change.
September 10 serves as a reminder to me of the precious gift that life really is. When I take for granted such things as office responsibilities, interaction with family and friends, even paying the bills, I'm suffering a personal deficit. And, unwittingly, I'm giving in to a form of spiritual indifference which fails to give thanks to God for the gift of life, with all its wonder and routine, its joys and its sorrows.
I believe the "better angels of our spirit" call us to embrace hope, love, joy and peace, even in the shadows of 9/11. But this is possible to us only if we know the One who alone gives the precious gift of life.
No comments:
Post a Comment