9/11 Memories--Eighteen Years Later

Eighteen years.

Incoming freshmen at the university up the street from my office have no memory of a pre-9/11 world, of a time when our nation was not at war. That day (and those that followed) are etched in my memory, disbelief turning to horror in a few hours after waking up (we lived on the west coast then). Watching and rewatching the footage of planes used as missiles and towers dropping to the ground. Watching the Pentagon in flames. Hearing of the passengers on a doomed plane thwarting their hijackers' plans at the cost of their lives ending in a field in Pennsylvania. Images of people jumping out windows to escape flames.

In the days ahead mourning proceeded next to the barricading of public buildings and airports. Everyone was stunned, no one could fly anywhere and many discovered they knew people who knew people who were either lost or spared by circumstance (a pilot friend was supposed to be on board one of the doomed flights the next day). It was days before some aspects of life began to return to a new "normal."

For a few days, people prayed and asked for prayers, and some thought revival would follow. A national prayer service had good words from many, including Billy Graham. But soon the prayers diminished, with most coming from military families for loved ones who would soon be going into harms' way. Some expressed anger that God would let this happen, others said it was God's judgment on America for whatever sin the speaker especially hated. There was no mass repentance.
The name "Osama bin Laden" became known and hated very quickly. It was just a month later I was boarding a flight (slowly) when the announcement came that we were sending troops to Afghanistan, ostensibly to root out the terrorists in this safe haven provided by the Taliban government. Most of us knew little of the Taliban or al Queda back then--we didn't even know how to spell or pronounce them. We know that now.
Soon our politics took over. The war in Afghanistan became the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, with massive support quickly deteriorating into accusations and argument. Victory has yet to come--we don't seem to be sure what that would even be at this point. We are so ready to be done that we almost were treated to the presence of Taliban leaders at Camp David last week--even as they continue a war against the government we put in place.
9/11 was a day that changed everything, much of the change being in the way Americans conducted their lives and viewed the world. But the day itself needs to be remembered in honor of those who were its victims and as a lesson to us all. Evil threatens us. Danger surrounds us. But God is with us and for us. Surprise attacks don't surprise him. "Senseless" violence and suffering is not outside his control or plan, even when it makes no sense to us. And people used to not acknowledging God are not moved even by great tragedy to change their ways on their own.