I have to admit, it snuck up on me, really. I wasn’t planning on thinking about it much, but the more I dwelt on the day, the more reflective I became. Twenty-five years is a long time, roughly the same distance in time between the end of World War II and my birthday in 1971. Here are some reflections.
1. There are some things about that day I will never forget. Ingrained in my mind is the horror of watching the second plane crash into the other tower live on television, because someone from church had called me and told me what happened, so we turned it on. We were on the west coast and three hours behind, so we were all still waking up. When that second plane hit, I instantly knew this was not an accident. It was planned. It still sickens me. I also remember the sound of military jets patrolling our skies at night. No commercial or private planes were allowed to fly, and all air traffic was national security. The idea of the military patrolling American airspace still gives me chills. I also remember the confusion, for days, about what actually happened at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania. It took so long to sort out.
2. There are now two generations of Americans who will never know what life was like before 9/11 and they will, therefore, never comprehend what we have lost. It is not their fault, of course. It is no one’s fault. However, much has been lost in the way of freedom, liberty, innocence, and I might add of decency. I think the decency was lost when every single person was suddenly viewed by everyone else as a possible terrorists. Living with that kind of cynicism and fear changes the way people relate to one another. Maybe, some day, decency will return but there is little hope right now. The rapid development of the surveillance state, Homeland Security (I still think we could have come up with a better name), and the Patriot Act, all well-intentioned I think, has led to the sacrificing of many liberties we once took for granted.
3. I just can’t stomach the conspiracy theories that surround this time of year, as the tin-foil hat brigade comes out once a year like Mariah Carey for Christmas and regale us with their amazing knowledge learned on You-Tube about the temperature of jet fuel and CGI and Building 7. Please don’t come at me with this garbage. Terrorists did this to us, it was not an inside job, and the government of our nation did not facilitate this horrible event. There are plenty of things to be suspicious and doubtful about our government (I can name about three right now) but 9/11 is not one of them. It was perpetrated upon us by people who hate us, our way of life, and our liberty.
4. In hindsight, it very much seems like the Bush Administration overreacted and overreached in responding to 9/11. By militarizing the situation with invasions of Afghanistan and then Iraq, we created a cause-effect loop in which we destabilized the regional powers and have created far more problems than were before. Today’s headlines about Iran, Houthis, and Yemen are all direct descendants of problems caused by the responses to 9/11.
5. History is a great teacher, but the lessons are painful and we are often poor students. We have already forgotten, although we said never forget, the lessons of unity, the lessons of prayer, the lessons of hope, and the lessons of cooperation. In the years since we have squandered just about every ounce of goodwill which pretty much the whole world had toward us on 9/12. When tragedy comes again, and it will come again because it always does, I pray we are better students and will respond in better ways.
Of course I have other thoughts, but these are enough for now. I will add only one more thing, and that is I remember how much people went to church after 9/11. Every house of worship in the United States saw marked increases in attendance. Of course that faded as soon as sabers began to rattle and soldiers began to deploy. We trusted in the Lord until our chariots and horses (Psalm 20:7) were prepared. Once we had those ready, we didn’t need the Lord anymore — or so we thought.