I've been trying all day to put into words what I think today, the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. I couldn't do it. I read lots of "I remember" posts around the blogosphere, but most of them seemed to fall flat. I do remember, and I want to remember, but simply saying "I remember" feels trite. We've been "remembering" for six years, and it seems that not much has come of it.
This evening I read my sister's post. She says exactly what I wish I'd been able to articulate. So please go read it. It is very, very good.
2 comments:
I wrote this as a comment elsewhere, but I thought of it again reading your post:
At the risk of sounding insensitive, I wanted to say I'm one of those people who were too far away to be very personally affected by the 9/11 phenomenon.
I certainly have prayed for those affected, and feel compassion for them, but I read accounts and blog post of people who swear they'll never forget, and how it changed their lives, and I know I'll never really *get* it.
It's made me think of how we react to any of the huge tragedies that rock our world.
There are people (I'm thinking specifically of the Middle East just now) who go through 9/11s on an annual, if not monthly or weekly, basis.
My prayer when I see remembrances for 9/11 is that we would see past our own memories of pain, and use it to understand (for the first time?) there are those with fresher sorrow and hurts than ours.
I don't say this to minimize the realness of "our" pain or the changes we were forced through, but to remind us that we are not utterly unique in them.
I pray we be careful not to become selfish-- even in (national) sorrow.
Amy Jane, whom I do not know... that's exactly what I was thinking. You just articulated it better than I was trying to. We can't allow our political beliefs, either for or against the war and its architects, to blind us to the desperate pain and suffering occuring all over the world and our part in perpetuating, provoking, or at the least failing to prevent it.
And Em... thanks for sharing the link to Sarah's blog. Those were some gret thoughts, even if I don't totally agree with all of them. :)
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