Looking at 9/11 Memorials on the Day After

Each year since 2002, we have spent time remembering the tragedy at New York City’s Twin Towers that occurred September 11, 2001. On the first anniversary, I wrote a poem to commemorate that event that left its mark upon our national psyche. Garrison Keillor, in yesterday's The Writer's Almanac shared a beautiful and thoughtful poem by Charlotte Parsons titled, "9/11." 

Now, 16 years later, I wonder if we are indeed honoring those lives lost that day. I wonder if we are honoring our American ideals, In a tweet yesterday, President Barack Obama said that “No act of terror will ever change who we are.” When I look around at the state of our nation today, I can't help wondering if that is really true. Have we changed since that day when the towers fell?

We continue to launch campaigns of hate, and we fear the foreigner so much that we as a nation are threatening war on many fronts while our president seeks to dismantle hope for some of the brightest who happen to be Hispanic children of undocumented immigrants. Has terror caused us to forget who we are?

I must hasten to add that not everyone in our country is operating from fear and hatred. How we treat our immigrant neighbors, how we respond to the Islamic community, and what values we present to the world are currently being debated in the public square. While prejudice seems to be on the ascendency at the moment, we have not lost our hope for justice to prevail and for the common good to be our standard.

One of the best 9/11 commemorations that I have read is by Gary Furr, pastor of Vestavia Hills Baptist Church and blogger at The Flat Pickin’ Pilgrim’s Progress. You can read his essay here. I highly recommend it for its broad and compassionate look at what the anniversary of 9/11 means to us.

As we think on our history, our legacy, and our travails, may we always, somehow, look to the better angels of our nature, and not grow weary in our well doing.

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Photo: Two women stop to read the names of the victims lost at Ground Zero (FEMA photo by Lauren Hobart, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

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Remembering 9-11

Last year I re-posted a poem on the tenth anniversary of 9-11. This year, my friend Jane at Spiritually Speaking offers some soul-searching words of healing for all who would hear. You can read her essay here.



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The Norwegians' Peaceful Response

Photo credit: Junge, Heiko/AFP/GettyImages

My friend Jim High shared a video last year of someone he knows personally. She is an American living near Oslo. On that video she shares her observations of the remarkable response from the Norwegians to the terrorist activity of one of their own, Anders Behring Breivik, whose alleged actions resulted in the deaths of 77 people. (The video can be seen below)

“One man set out to spread hate,” she stated, “yet, the overriding response to the horrific tragedy he caused, is love. Love for the families who are torn apart; love for the values of this amazing democracy; love for the free, open, inclusive society we in Norway have chosen. Love, support and kindness springing up from all colors, creeds and political affiliations, from all around the world.”

She then shared words that had been offered by officials in Norway:

• From the Norwegian Minister of Justice: “We will not allow you to destroy our democracy and our commitment to a better world.”
• From the Crown Prince of Norway: “We have chosen to respond to cruelty with compassion.”
• The Mayor of Oslo: “We will punish the killer together, and the punishment will be more openness and more tolerance.”

Currently in Norway, the trial is underway for Breivik. In an article by Balazs Koranyi and Victoria Klesty Breivik that was picked up by Reuters, Breivik is quoted as saying that his victims were   "‘traitors’ who deserved death for embracing left-wing values which, in his view, opened Europe to a slow-motion Muslim invasion.”  The Norwegians’ response continues to be peaceful with as many as 40,000 people gathering in peaceful demonstration by singing “ ‘Children of the Rainbow’ - that extols the type of multicultural society Breivik has said he despised and one that he specifically dismissed during the trial as Marxist propaganda.”

There’s Just One Question

I find this Norwegian response to be remarkable and inspiring. As a southerner who grew up and continues to live in the “Bible Belt” – the epicenter of Evangelical Christianity – I have one piercing question to ask. Why has Norway internalized the message of the gospel of Christ in a way that is a quantum leap ahead of Evangelical Christians in the U.S.? Statistically, about 3% of Norwegians attend church, yet they act as Jesus bid his followers to act. On the other hand, here in the Christian South where there are churches on practically every corner, my fellow citizens are all too quick give shouts of approval to bigotry, war and violence. Where and when did the words of Jesus give way to sectarian and tribalistic cries of nationalism?