By Tabatha McIntyre
We sat down on the couch with our lattes my husband had just made us. Like some kind of rehearsed synchronicity, we opened up our laptops, and immediately there on my home screen was a lovely picture of a tulip farm along with the date and time.
“Oh my gosh, baby, it’s 9:11 on 9/11!” I blurted. I looked up at him and there was an unspoken knowing. I bet there is zero need for an explanation for you either.
I felt compelled to stop and pray for our nation, so I asked him if he would join me. On the spot, he stopped everything and we both bowed before a holy God we believe in and lifted up our tender and traumatized country in prayer.
“Do you remember where you were?”
I’ve heard that question so many times over the last 23 years. I haven’t met anyone over the age of 30 who hasn’t eagerly shared where they were when the twin towers were attacked. I was 17, in my senior year of high school, sitting in Bible class.
One of the enduring phrases people said all the time back then and still do is, “Never forget.” It was a call to all of us to hold each other accountable for remembering that fateful day and the weeks and months that followed. It was horrible, it was shocking and sudden, and it left us all changed. Honestly, though, the first thing I think of when I do remember to remember is not the devastation, but the devotion to our country and to each other. I don’t remember the fires burning at ground zero as much as I remember the burning we all felt in our hearts to unite ourselves and become stronger, together. I know there were thousands killed, and millions who grieved, but there was also a forging, a purifying and strengthening. We smelled like smoke because we had walked through fire, but it greeted a time in our society that felt a little golden. I remember us putting down our red and blue banners and realizing that all the division and arguing we’d been doing was pointless if we were under attack, if our very lives and freedom were at risk. It burned away the chaff and distractions for a while and we were left looking around at a nation who needed to extend sympathy and grace, as well as courage and conviction. We didn’t turn on each other because you-know-what hit the fan, we turned as one and looked boldly at our enemy in the face and said, “Try it again and see what happens.”
I know everyone has their thoughts on 9/11 and it can be quite controversial, but all of that was unknown back then, we didn’t have conspiracy theories or the same level of mistrust in humanity as we do now. We saw it for what it seemed, and we united accordingly. I’m deeply grieved 23 years later to see how divided and polarized we are. There seems to be zero unity and grace. Compassion and our humanity seemed to die from COVID-19. We once again went through something horrible, shocking, and sudden that left us all changed, but this time we didn’t unite. This time, we retreated behind our lines, built walls to ensure there would be no congregating and started hurling over grenades to eliminate anyone else’s truths or feelings because they were suddenly the enemy. They got us confused and scared, and look how easily we all turned on ourselves. We lost sight of the true enemy.
So, at 9:11AM on 9/11, I prayed. I prayed God would heal our country, protect our families, restore our relationships, renew our faith, and redeem all that’s been lost. We still have everything it takes to turn this around. We still have a voice, we still have the choice to be kind, to be forgiving, to work together with the conviction of a human. May we realize each step away from each other, from our humanity, is a step away from God-given wisdom and discernment, and consequently a step closer to us becoming the ultimate artificial intelligence. They’ve been warning us for years. Divided we fall, united we stand.
God help us remember to remember.
Comentarios