Fifteen years ago today, I was awakened by mom saying,
you need to watch this. In the living
room the television was tuned to NBC’s the Today show, and a smoking image of
the Twin Towers was being broadcast live from the New York skyline to my home
in Long Beach, California. It took me a moment to take it all in. The news
reporters were unsure what had happened. Confusion and Panic were in their
voices as bits of information mixed with pure guess work passed for news that
day. I sat not yet fully awake trying to make sense of the images and sounds
that I was witnessing. I watched the
endless loop. The Today Show replayed
footage of the second plane hitting the South Tower over and over. No one
seemed to really know what was happening. I was watching live when the second Tower
came down. Ash and Fire filled the sky and our country was forever changed.
Beyond the planes that were hijacked and flown into the Twin Towers, two more
planes were hijacked that day. One crashed into the Pentagon. The other in a
field in Pennsylvania, believed to be targeted on the White House.
In the days and weeks that followed two narratives
emerged. The first narrative highlighted the very worse that America has to offer.
Mosques were sieged and taken over by angry citizens. People whose only crime
was looking like what other people imagined the attackers to be were
threatened, beaten, and even killed. In
a time where all were unsure of what was next; a time when all grieved; in a
time were unity was the best answer anyone could muster in the face of such
violence and confusion, American
citizens sought out their neighbor and reacted
with prejudice, hatred, and violence.
Why would someone react this way? Why in a time where the
American flags hung on nearly every door and post, a time where people came
together to raise money and support for the victims and their families, why would
others go out and cause harm to their own country? Their own countrymen and
women?
Fear, Anger, Uncertainty, Helplessness. These are the
emotions that cause people to react. These are the emotions that were felt in
America on that day and the days that followed. I know at least they are the
emotions that welled up in me.
But these feelings are not unique to me. To see a
building collapse, to know that someone from outside your home. Outside your
place of safety could attack the Pentagon, try and attack the White House, kill
thousands of civilians who were only harmed because they had arrived on time
for their flight or showed up for work that day. It will cause fear and anger.
And it should. Their aim of the terrorist is to cause fear in the hearts and
minds of people. The terrorists accomplished their aim on that day.
However, that narrative of fear and reaction is not the
only narrative from that day. There is a second narrative. The one of those
whose actions showed their faith by their deeds. Those whose words and actions
were kind and compassionate. Self-less and for some even Self-giving. Of course
this is the narrative of the firefighters, police, and EMTs that ran toward the
smoke. Toward the towers. Toward the danger. They may have felt fear and
uncertainty but their actions showed that the others come first.
There is a word we use to classify these kinds of
professions. They are known as first responder. They do not react. They
respond. When the planes hit the building the fire departments of New York and
its neighbors did not rush to find a place to express their anger and fear with
more violence. Neither did they rush toward the towers without any tools or
equipment. They responded. They put on the proper gear and they brought the
proper equipment allowing them to help those buried beneath the buildings.
Their actions spoke louder than their words. Their actions of self-sacrifice
spoke louder than the violence with which the day had begun.
In the last fifteen years the rubble of the collapsed
World Trade Center has been cleared, memorials built and a new structures now
fill the New York City skyline. And yet we still live in a culture filled with
competing narratives. Every day there are police who put their lives on the
line to maintain order. Every day there are law enforcement officers who abuse
power and bring violence and even death upon the citizens they swore to serve
and protect. The Scriptures command that the orphan, widow, and immigrant be
cared for. The Church (as a whole) is still discussing and debating who is
worthy of our aid and comfort. The 24 hour news cycle cares more about the
moral character of a football player than the moral character of the candidates
asking to lead our country.
But there is hope. Part Two tomorrow.
--Jesse Letourneau
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