In Memoriam...A Repost

I remember speaking about this in 2010 and in 2011 and as far as all can be concerned, I stand by the statements that I made then as they are no less true now as they were a year ago. They were inflammatory and I got a lot of censure and I’m sure I will again but these words must be said.



Like my esteemed and intelligent husband, I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when word reached me of the 9/11 attacks and I remember watching in horror as smoke, fire and debris bellowed from out of the Twin Towers. My two oldest children were just babies then and I was getting ready to make coffee for me and breakfast for them. I turned on the television so the kids could watch “Dragon Tales” and saw the footage on the news. I stopped dead in my tracks because I had felt for sure that what I was seeing was a badly planned airing of a movie or something similar as daytime television shows are wont to do with the release of a new movie. Then I heard the talking in the background and the screen switched to the news anchor who firmly dashed my hopes that what I saw were special effects. The breaking news story of the planes that had been flown into the World Trade Center and the terrorist attacks aired all over the place.



I remember the tears of anger and sympathy as I watched dust covered and shocked victims running from the scene, crying and screaming and so many of them bloodied and injured. I remember that the Pentagon had been attacked and there was a plane that was brought down before its attempted attack on the Capitol by a brave few who knew that that would be the last time they would ever talk to their families or tell their loved ones just how much they cared. I remember that all flights in the United States had been grounded until further notice (which cost me my home at the time because I worked at UPS during the day and so much of our job was air freight; we didn’t work for almost a week and with being barely making it as it was I couldn’t recover financially from that) and I remember the President saying that the attacks were an act of war, a sentiment with which I agreed wholeheartedly in my youth and arrogance.



I remember the worried and grieving family members talking on the phones with the news stations about how so and so had said this or done that right before the line had gone dead but that that person had died a hero for there was no denying that said person had given their life to save others. I remember the pictures and the fliers that were up all with the same caption, “Have you seen this person?”



I remember that there wasn’t a person in this country whose life was not affected by the attacks on 9/11 no matter how nebulous the connection and I remember the cry for blood and vengeance that we as a people cried in the ensuing hours, days, weeks and even months. I remember the influx of proud young men and women who enlisted en masse in the military to “Go fight the good fight against terror.”



I remember the steady rise in gas prices since and the horrible and far reaching effects that the attacks had on a wavering economy. Yes, I remember it well.



What I don’t feel when I remember the attacks on 9/11 eleven years later are bitterness, rage or hate because to put it simply, I learned what it is to forgive and truthfully, it’s wonderfully liberating thing. You see, I know from personal experience that we’ll never forget what happened on 9/11 because that would be impossible. What we don’t have to do is remember with the same poisonous and distasteful emotions that keep us from seeing our own folly. Not to put too fine a point on it, or perhaps because of these things I choose to say now and again; it’s time to forgive. Let me explain my point of view if you’ll be so kind and indulge me.



The large majority of the citizens of the United States would call themselves religious in one form or another though the finer points vary greatly. Baptist, Lutheran, Apostolic, Protestant, Mormon, Christian, Catholic, Non-Denominational and yes, even Muslim because it is unfair to forego the mention and respect of the many in any particular faith for the mistakes of the few (if I’ve left any out please overlook my oversight). All have one thing in common and it’s a remarkably simple idea; to try everyday in every way to model ourselves after the One who came before us and chose to show The Way. Love and generosity, forgiveness and acceptance, self-sacrifice and long suffering are all the most basic foundations of all belief systems.



Ladies and gentlemen, one continuous idea runs through my mind apace with the clash and clamor of all my thoughts and it’s so simple a child could grasp the meaning. There was a man who caught the attention of the world, who inspired faiths and followers and whose words and actions are a cornerstone for our very lives more than two millennia later. He has many names though one stands as the universal identifier among them all, say this name and everyone knows about whom you speak. His name was Jesus Christ and He died a brutal, excruciating, lonely and humiliating death and might I point out that even as He was nailed to a cross and His blood poured out onto the uncaring ground, He begged His father to forgive those who crucified Him. Most everyone knows the Biblical line, “Forgive them Lord for they know not what they do.” He was flogged, whipped, dressed in a crown of thorns, mocked and nailed to a monument of wood that He was made to carry to the place of His ultimate end and even as He bore the sins of the world, He cried out for forgiveness for those who took His life. Are we then to call ourselves believers and followers of Christ and still forsake the very ideals on which He stood? What about the beliefs for which He gave His life?



In accordance with all Christ centered faiths, on the third day He rose victorious and sin was forgiven even for those who took His life and for this so many of us rejoice. Is that rejoicing not empty and meaningless if we choose to forsake the very ideas for which we thank Him; namely forgiveness of our own sins or is this only important when it applies to us and everyone else whom we choose be damned in line with our own outrage? This is hypocritical and there’s no other way to describe it or give it a name.



Has it ever occurred to anyone that we fall into the trap and the game of the Jihadists when we refuse to forgive because the very basis of their “Holy War” is to inspire hate and fear in us and uproot everything that we hold sacred? In refusing to forgive we also choose to lose this “Holy War” by virtue of our own shortsightedness for we may be fighting a “War on Terror” however, the Fundamentalists fight “Jihad” which means “Holy War” and against such there can be no victory without uprooting the ideas for which they fight. In short, to forgive is to win because when we forgive, the Jihadists will no longer inspire hate and fear in anyone and they no longer have that power over us anymore.



I don’t write this to try to preach though my faith based references are fundamental to my point and I hope that I’m not the only one that sees through the religion to the idea that I’m trying to convey. I do not agree with or condone the burning of the Qu’ran for it was a mockery of the Muslim faith as a whole and it was childish and arrogant however, neither do I condone or agree with the attacks a little more than a decade ago today or the subsequent attacks by the Jihadists since. I do not agree with or condone the hate or the rage or the distrust or the cries for blood or vengeance from either side of this bloody conflict and I do not condone the unwillingness to forgive for it is by this and nothing more that we all lose in the end. Let go of your hate and find yourselves free and just for what it’s worth, the first person that says to anyone or themselves that they only hate the Jihadists because the Jihadists hated them first is a liar and only wants to justify their own petulance and arrogance. Let’s grow up as a nation and give what was first given to us. It’s time to forgive.