So tomorrow marks 5 years since the terrorist attacks on our nation. Today in church we watched a video about that terrible day. The video really sturred up some deep emotions and brought me to tears a few times. It's amazing how deeply those events impacted me, us all really, and how easily I forget what I was feeling that day. I wonder, if I lived in New York or Washington or Pennsylvania, if those feelings wouldn't be buried as much. Or if a brother or cousin of mine were serving in the military, would those feelings be closer and fresher? I guess that's kinda what anniversaries are for, to remind us of life changing events and how they made us feel and how they've affected our lives. I hope, no matter how long I live, that I still feel the pain, anger, confusion and glimmer of hope that I felt again today; the same things I felt on 9-11-01, that we all experienced as we watched, in a day, our entire world change in a deep and even eternal way.
Recently I read a TIME magazine article that made an attempt to predict what the 30th anniversary of the attacks would be like. The article talked about how we Americans returned to life as "normal" and moved on talking about movie stars and partisan politics in no time. That's just the thing, we've got it so crazy good here. Our country is at war and we've still got the time to complain about gas prices, gossip about TomKat and play fantasy football. I'm not saying that we should necessarily stop doing those things but that we need to get a clue about how blessed we are to still have our freedoms intact. There are nations all over the world that have no idea what it's like to be able to petition their government, travel from border to border without question and pursue the dreams that they have for their own lives, let alone to do those things while their country is at war. We live in a day with no comparison and in a nation that has no equal on this planet. Truly, God has blessed America.
I've decided to be a little more purposeful in giving thanks to God for this country, praying for his protection on those who serve to keep us free and to say thanks to the ones paying the price for that freedome. Won't you join me? Here's a few sites that can assist you in communicating that thanks to those who gave and are giving their all:
-A WTC Memorial
-Let's Say Thanks
-A Millions Thanks
This is a day and time when one can make so much of a difference. We're still feeling and seeing the results of the actions of those crazy terrorists today, 5 years later. What if millions more of us got involved in praying and acting for peace, justice and encouragement in these times of great distress. God help us all to truly be Americans!
