Remembering

"Real peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of justice."
-Martin Luther King Jr.

Today is a profoundly sad day for me. It seems every time September 11th rolls around I am struck with a deep sorrow; a sadness for my life, my country, my future, and for those who lost someone 7 years ago today. There is so much I could say about today. So many angles I could process it from, so many questions run through my mind. I could blog about this event every year and still not be any closer to peace and justice.

I still can't wrap my head around the events of that day. I can't imagine being on a airplane, going on a business trip or a vacation with my family, only to die at the hands of a terrorist. I can't imagine getting a phone call from a loved one who has to tell me, terrified and helpless, that they are going to die. I can't imagine going to work and dying in my office building. I can't imagine waiting, helplessly, to find out if someone I love has died. I can't fathom the years of planning it took on the part of the terrorists to hurt America so badly and make it so vulnerable in the matter of hours.

In a lot of ways I am very lucky that I have been so indirectly affected by the events of September 11, 2001. Yet still, in so many ways, terrorism has affected my life and will continue to do so in ways I'm not even sure about yet.

Through these feelings of sadness, fear, and anger trickles in another feeling; hope. I hope for a better future for my children, my family, and myself. I hope the events of September 11th are always remembered. I hope those who have given their lives, both directly (soldiers, victims of the attacks) and indirectly (family of the victims, women who watch the news everyday hoping their US Soldier is unscathed) are honored.

I don't think there is a solution to what happened that day. I don't know that we have always done the right thing, (our reaction to the attacks) and I'm not sure I even know what justice is anymore. What I do know is until tolerance is universally taught we are never going to stop the world from fighting.

We pray today that from the ashes will rise a new spirit of beauty and unity in America. Already, all across this nation our hearts have been knit together into a new tapestry of one America. Because of this tragedy, we have been bound together by a silver chord of hope and brotherhood and sisterhood. What was meant to drive us apart has really drawn us together.
May we always remember.
-Reverend Wintley Phipps