Thursday, September 11, 2008

9.11.2001

I woke up and was getting ready to go start another day of intern life at Mountain Christian Church in Joppa, MD. Uncharacteristically, I had my TV tuned to one of the morning news shows, so for once, I actually knew what was happening as soon as the media knew what was happening. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I stood frozen in my make-shift basement apartment staring at planes crash into the twin towers just a few hours away from where I was standing.

By the time I'd made it to the office, one of the towers had fallen and the other was pretty close to the same. The pentagon, which was only a short drive down I-95 from where I lived, had also been targeted. Heath (my boss) told me to go home.

I didn't go home. I went to my college campus where all my friends and I stayed in the lounge of the guy's dorm for (what seemed like) two days straight wondering what the heck was going on. No classes (they were cancelled), no work (a lot of stuff closed down for those 2 days) and no clue what just happened to our neighbors (when you live in Maryland, New York and DC, although you may not like it sometimes, are definitely neighbors).

Here's to the memory of the 343 New York City Firefighters and the 2,974 civilians who lost their lives on that day. Here's to the children who've been growing up without parents and grandparents...the spouses who've bravely faced the loss...the parents who saw their children die needlessly.

May we remember today, as a country, that vengeance is not the answer. More lives lost will not bring back our dead.

And may we remember, as the Church (if, indeed, you are part of the Church) to take care of the widows and the orphans...for this is true religion.

No comments: