Five Years Later
For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt. I am mourning; astonishment has taken hold of me.
Oh, that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! --Jeremiah 8:21, 9:1
In my Bible, there is a scribbled note in the margin next to the verses I've just quoted. The note is five years old, and it says simply, "9/11."
I did not lose anyone I loved as a result of the terrorist attacks that brought down the World Trade Center towers. I had never been to New York, and had no ties to the city that I should have felt the impact of the event that knocked our nation, and our world, into a new, and frightening, era. I didn't know why I should feel any sense of loss.
But I did.
I remember one or two weeks after the attacks, I was in a grocery store. A special edition of TIME magazine caught my eye as I was by the checkout stand. The issue was dedicated simply to photos taken of the World Trade Center and New York that day. I flipped through slowly, and came across a picture of two tiny people, hands locked together, black specks against a wide blue sky, with the long, smoking wall of one of the towers off to the side.
I put the magazine back on the rack, and left the grocery store. I went to my car and, for a length of time I don't remember now, I just sat there crying.
Five years later, I find myself unable to watch the movies that have come out recently, about 9/11. World Trade Center, United 93, and others. I don't know why. Is it too soon? When will it be soon enough?
I can't say.
This morning, I am watching CNN's live coverage from 9/11, being shown in real time on their Web site. The first plane had already hit when I tuned in, and the reporters were still confusedly trying to make sense of what had happened. I saw the second plane run into the second tower as the first tower billowed smoke across a clear sky. I started to cry again.
Oh that my eyes were a fountain of tears!
And now I have to get ready for work. I'm going to be late. Ah, the great absurdity of life... The fact that it will just go on, in spite of us, in spite of everything.
But oh God, the things we carry as we have to go along with it!
Oh, that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! --Jeremiah 8:21, 9:1
In my Bible, there is a scribbled note in the margin next to the verses I've just quoted. The note is five years old, and it says simply, "9/11."
I did not lose anyone I loved as a result of the terrorist attacks that brought down the World Trade Center towers. I had never been to New York, and had no ties to the city that I should have felt the impact of the event that knocked our nation, and our world, into a new, and frightening, era. I didn't know why I should feel any sense of loss.
But I did.
I remember one or two weeks after the attacks, I was in a grocery store. A special edition of TIME magazine caught my eye as I was by the checkout stand. The issue was dedicated simply to photos taken of the World Trade Center and New York that day. I flipped through slowly, and came across a picture of two tiny people, hands locked together, black specks against a wide blue sky, with the long, smoking wall of one of the towers off to the side.
I put the magazine back on the rack, and left the grocery store. I went to my car and, for a length of time I don't remember now, I just sat there crying.
Five years later, I find myself unable to watch the movies that have come out recently, about 9/11. World Trade Center, United 93, and others. I don't know why. Is it too soon? When will it be soon enough?
I can't say.
This morning, I am watching CNN's live coverage from 9/11, being shown in real time on their Web site. The first plane had already hit when I tuned in, and the reporters were still confusedly trying to make sense of what had happened. I saw the second plane run into the second tower as the first tower billowed smoke across a clear sky. I started to cry again.
Oh that my eyes were a fountain of tears!
And now I have to get ready for work. I'm going to be late. Ah, the great absurdity of life... The fact that it will just go on, in spite of us, in spite of everything.
But oh God, the things we carry as we have to go along with it!
posted by grackyfrogg @ 8:30 PM
1 Comments:
At 7:05 PM ,
squawpeak said...
We all lost something that day...our sense of security, or order, of a world full of rational, reasonable people.
I'm still struggling to tweeze out what the Christ-like response to such madmen is. I wonder if part of the plan is that, in the collective body, there are those who are called to respond like Christ would, and others to protect the body from physical harm - using blunt means when necessary.
Good post.
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