Reflecting on September 11th, 2001 on September 12th, 2008

September 11th kind of came and went this year, which I presume is due to being abroad. But as I'm sitting this morning catching up on the news, the effect of september 11th is almost too much to bear. 

I'm reflecting on how painful it was for the American people. How real the event was, and how human both the hijackers and the victims were. How convinced a person must be to take the lives of thousands. 

But I'm also reflecting on our response to this as a nation. On the fear it's created, the mindset of us versus them. The videos of young soldiers in Iraq explaining that they don't know the difference between our presence in Iraq and in Afghanistan. The hype that a vice presidential candidate may or may not think we're fighting a holy war.

It's hard to separate the day itself from the response that we've had the last 7 years. And for me, I can't mourn one without the other. 

I liked what Jim Wallis wrote a few days after 9/11 and shared again yesterday...

But we can deny them their victory by refusing to submit to a world created in their image. Terrorism inflicts not only death and destruction but also emotional oppression to further its aims. We must not allow this terror to drive us away from being the people God has called us to be. We assert the vision of community, tolerance, compassion, justice, and the sacredness of human life, which lies at the heart of all our religious traditions.

"Refusing to submit to a world created in their image"...the real way to victory. To represent "the vision of community, tolerance, compassion, justice, and the sacredness of human life" not of violence and destruction. I'm praying today that as we're reminded of September 11th (on September 12th) that we're reminded of the lives we're to live in the Kingdom of God and choose to follow the way of Jesus rather than the way of this world.