9/11

10 years.  Has it really been that long? The words of Alan Jackson's song keep running through my head, "Where were you when the world stopped turning on that September day?"
Where was I? I was a junior at LaGrange High School.  I was in first period in Ms. Faucett's Spanish class when it happened, but we didn't hear about it until class change, probably about 20-30 minutes later.  I walked out into the hall and someone came rushing up and said, "Did you hear?? A plane crashed into the Eiffel Tower!?"  I remember thinking how sad that was that such an icon and beautiful structure was destroyed.  Then someone else said that it wasn't the Eiffel Tower, it was the Twin Towers in New York City.  My first thought?  "Oh, good,  that is better than the Eiffel Tower!"  I didn't know what the Twin Towers or the World Trade Center were.  I'd seen it when my family went to New York City 4 years before that, but it didn't make any huge impression in my mind.  It didn't take long for the gravity of the situation to set in, and I quickly felt ashamed for my initial thoughts. Throughout the day we watched the news coverage of the smoking buildings and then the smoldering heap of rubble, the desperate people leaping from the buildings, and the chaos all around.  When we weren't watching the coverage, we were talking about it, trying to make sense of it all.
I remember the immense pride that everyone felt for their country.  People everywhere opened their hearts to God.  I'm sure there were many sincere prayers uttered by people who hadn't prayed in years.  Broken and softened hearts, along with a brutal reminder of our own mortality and how things can change in an instant, brought people to their knees and filled the churches across the country.  Of course there was the selflessness of the NYC firemen and other emergency responders, but for a little while at least, that selflessness seemed to be felt by everyone, no matter how distant (or non-existent) NYC and the Trade Towers seemed the day before.  We all had a common bond.  Our homeland was under attack.  Our safety and security was threatened.  All of a sudden, our Sweet Land of Liberty was in question.  As terrifying as that all was, what it did for the hearts of the American people was, for a time, something great.
I don't have my old journals with me to reference, but on an anniversary of the attacks (I don't know if it was 1 or 2 or 3 years, or what) I remember writing about how the patriotism and brotherhood that had been born as a result of the attacks had faded all too quickly.  I hate to liken such a terrible thing to Christmas, but it's the best I can think of right now.  At Christmastime everyone feels an extra measure of goodwill, charity and cheer, and ya can't help but think to yourself, "Now why can't we have this great feeling and kindness all year long?" and you may set out to do it, but no doubt by New Year's, it has worn off and is packed away with the glass balls and nutcrackers.  Why did we lose the unity, the love for our country and each other, and the renewal of our faith in God so quickly?

So with all this remembering and reflecting that has gone on over the past week, I can't help but wonder...Why?  What's the point?  I don't mean that in any disrespectful way at all...more in a way to help me make sense of it all and to make it meaningful to me.
So why did the terrorists attack?  What was their goal?  I'm sure there's tons of resources out there that can give reasons or theories as to what they were trying to accomplish.  I'm no expert, I'm not into politics or current events, and I'm really not up on my Inside the Minds of the Terrorists readings, but perhaps their goal as terrorists was to terrorize.  To make us as Americans live in fear.  Did they succeed?  My guess is that they might be a bit disappointed with how little the average American fears or feels the effects of 9/11.  We all stand in longer lines in the airport, and how many of us haven't rolled our eyes (and thought of ways to get around it if we wanted to) as TSA performs its extensive checks? Of course the members of the military and their families feel its effects every day, and I am grateful for their service and sacrifice. I drove behind a bumper sticker the other day that said "Navy Seals 1 -  Osama 0" and I just thought 0?!  Really? Have you really forgotten?? But honestly, do I live in fear because of what happened 10 years ago?  Not really.

Maybe even more important of a question than why the terrorists did what they did would be What are we supposed to learn from this?  I'm not asking why God allowed this to happen.  He will not take away the agency of others.  But maybe He is using it. Heleman 12:3 "And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him."  It worked.  People remembered Him. Even though it was in the wake of tragedy, it was inspiring to see so many hearts turn to God.  But as time passed, people forgot.  I just remembered this wonderful article written by President Thomas S. Monson and it fits so well with what I have been thinking and feeling.  Read the entire thing, but this part really ties into what I'm trying to get at here:

If there is a spiritual lesson to be learned from our experience of that fateful day, it may be that we owe to God the same faithfulness that He gives to us. We should strive for steadiness, and for a commitment to God that does not ebb and flow with the years or the crises of our lives. It should not require tragedy for us to remember Him, and we should not be compelled to humility before giving Him our faith and trust. We too should be with Him in every season.

The way to be with God in every season is to strive to be near Him every week and each day. We truly “need Him every hour,” not just in hours of devastation. We must speak to Him, listen to Him, and serve Him. If we wish to serve Him, we should serve our fellow men. We will mourn the lives we lose, but we should also fix the lives that can be mended and heal the hearts that may yet be healed.

It is constancy that God would have from us. Tragedies are not merely opportunities to give Him a fleeting thought, or for momentary insight to His plan for our happiness. Destruction allows us to rebuild our lives in the way He teaches us, and to become something different than we were. We can make Him the center of our thoughts and His Son, Jesus Christ, the pattern for our behavior. We may not only find faith in God in our sorrow. We may also become faithful to Him in times of calm.

So that is the message.  I guess I can't change what the rest of the country does to remember (or forget) September 11, 2001, but I can change myself.  Every day.