September 11th.
In an instant you are back there. On that day. Where you were when you first heard. Where you were when you first comprehended what was happening in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington DC. And for me, like most people, comprehending came hours after I heard about the attacks on our country.
Dean and I spent our dating years and first year of marriage across the river from New York City. Seeing the World Trade Center towers was not unusual for us. They were a part of New York. They
were the New York skyline.
New York City (around 1991)
If you had told me then that those majestic buildings could be brought to the ground by a terrorist attack, I would have called you crazy. And, if you told me it would happen in a matter of minutes I would have thought you were a lunatic.
And, yet, on a beautiful September day in 2001, we watched with horror as those buildings crumbled to the ground. And, in the beginning we feared they would take our country with them.
That day, I was at Torrey's school for her teddy bear picnic. She was 5. Her Kindergarten year had just begun ... and in an instant everything we knew as adults had changed. And for the first time I feared for Torrey's future ... would she live in a country that would know peace? Would there be more attacks? How many more September 11th's would there be? Would we be able to keep her safe?
But, for our girl, on that day, it was all about the bear. She laughed and giggled as she ate a picnic lunch with her friends. Not knowing the sadness that was enveloping our country at that moment. And, as a mom I prayed that this would be how she would be able to live her life ... free to be joyful. Free to be safe.
As the week wore on, the stories of survivors and victims were told. We heard of strangers who gave up their lives for others ... they rushed a cockpit of a plane to keep strangers safe on the ground, they stayed behind with strangers who couldn't make it down the stairs, and they ran up the stairs to rescue strangers as the buildings crumbled around them. These stories became our country's battle cry. They rallied us to not let 2,996 people die in vain. We should not let September 11th be about a small group of terrorists, but rather about a large group of heroes who lived John 15:13.
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
We have seen 9 September 11th's come and go since that day. We have continued to live in a land that knows peace ... because although they have tried, no terrorist has attacked our country since that terrible day. Sweet Torrey, like her friends, has laughed and lived a life that is joyful. She has been safe. She has grown into a thoughtful girl who cares about others. She will change the world one day.
Because she is part of a generation who learned early the power of hate. Her generation also learned on that fateful September day that love truly conquers all ... and given the choice, I daresay they will choose love any day. Especially September 11th.
