It's easy to get caught up in other things. It's easy to think today is just another day. It's football season. Bama is playing Penn State. Miami is at Ohio State. Michigan is at Notre Dame. It's easy to focus on the leaves that started falling. The political season has arrived. The car needs an oil change. We talk about Disney trips. We talk about bread pudding. We get busy with the busyness.
But there are 2900 families who aren't busy today.
They aren't thinking about pigskin or politics.
I imagine they would love for today to be just another day. A Monster Saturday in football. A day when their daughter cheers in her first game. A day when their toughest decision will be cool ranch or nacho cheese. I suppose in some small way it's a tribute to the memory of our lost brothers and sisters that nine years on, we've returned to the trivial. Life went on. The terrorists didn't win.
But if returning to normal, if living our lives, is the measure of our strength, than at least in our living we should pause from time to time. Remember That Day. Remember the images and the people.
I pause today and give thanks to Our Father for protecting our country. For giving stength to Stanley Prainmath and Brian Clark who walked out of the south tower; to Tom Burnett and Todd Beamer who fought back on Flight 93; to Welles Crowther who rescued other people and perished while doing so. For giving strength to the firemen and the policemen. For giving courage to Betty Ong the brave flight attendant. And I ask God to heal the widows and widowers. To comfort the children whose daddies and mommies didn't come home.
And on this day, when we say God Bless America. We mean it.
Wow.
ReplyDeleteVERY well said, ZZUB. Just the title and picture alone brought tears to my eyes. That's such a powerful image and it says so much without even saying a word.
It is very easy to get caught up in the trivial but we should always take time to remember today and the families left dealing with the fallout. As they continue to grieve both privately and publicly. I don't believe there will ever come a day when I don't shed a tear or ten on September 11th. Both for the loss of lives, and the loss of our nation's innocence. So to speak.
I'll never forget that Tuesday morning as we watched it unfold. The first plane hit right before I arrived at our babysitter's house to drop off our then three year old son and seven month old daughter. As she and I and another Mom stood there watching the news, the second plane hit. And from that moment on, I knew we were witnessing an act that was incomprehensibly evil. I cried all the way to work that morning, just looking at the 'beautiful for spacious skies' (which, ironically, seemed to be so much more beautiful on that day than any in recent memory) and realizing the world that my children would grow up in would be vastly different from the one that their parents had grown up in.
And in a lot of ways, it is. There's no denying that. But in other ways, it's still the same. Still way better than good, thanks in large part to our brave men and women in the armed forces and our nation's amazing first responders. So I'll join ZZUB in praying for them all today. And saying God Bless America and meaning it.
Amazing post Zzub. Thank you so much for the reminder. I was a youth pastor when the attacks took place and first heard the news on the radio. The senior pastor and I turned on the TV in the teen room and watched as the towers fell. The phone at the church started ringing and people began showing up to pray. It is day I will truly never forget. That night at a candle light service, a stunned people clung to The Word for comfort and hope. 9/11 taught us a lot of things. And reminded us just how precious life is. Thanks so much for helping us to remember the legacy of those who gave their lives on that fateful day.
ReplyDeleteEvil reached in and ripped a chunk out of our Nation. It's effects are still felt, and will continue to do so. Among the many reasons that my son has chosen to join the Marine Corps, are the direct and indirect effects in our daily lives. His world changed in a definite way that day, and he has remained aware of that. As his mother, I am all sorts of equal parts proud of him and scared to death for him.
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