Lesson of 9/11

Television images from September 11, 2011 pass float through my mind today as they have frequently during the last ten years.  The horror of seeing the second plane crash into the second tower as smoke was still billowing from the first tower is not the image that bothers me most.  I hate the feeling of falling (like when an airplane drops in turbulent weather) and the most disturbing to me personally was video of two people holding hands as they jumped out of an upper story to escape the searing heat and fell and fell and fell.  I don’t remember seeing them smash into the pavement below but adrenaline flows and panic rises inside me when I think how they felt during those dreadful moments.  The later photos of dust-covered people dazed in the streets and the voices of those reporting the collapse of the towers were awful.  The magnitude of suffering is unspeakable. 

As horrendous as these images are, the most appalling of all was video of people dancing and shouting in celebration in the streets in the Middle East.  I have never seen nor heard of violence and suffering in the world and reacted with exultant joy.  Their reaction was confusing, sobering and intensified the pain of what I had witnessed. Amid the devastation there was Christlike nobility of hundreds who worked to save and comfort others. Far from the scene, millions wished to help in anyway we could.

There is a movement to speak of healing and peace and talk of lessons learned on the anniversary of this willful carnage.  I pray for comfort and peace for the families of the victims.  I believe the suffering of the victims is swallowed up in the atonement of Christ who suffered not only the pain of the sinner but the pain inflicted by the sinner.  I believe we all reap what we sow and do not worry about those who joyfully cause or celebrate atrocities.  The story is not finished and in the end, God and goodness will put an end to evil and suffering and we each individually will stand before God our Father and Christ Jesus our Savior and account for what we have done. 

It is my hope and prayer to be accounted as one who has worked to “comfort them which are in any trouble” (II Corinthians 1:4) and “lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees” (Hebrews 12:12.)  I have also come to recognize that my desire to live peacefully with my neighbors in this world will not change the hearts of those succored by Satan who still reigns with blood and horror on this earth.  Not to acknowledge that Satan rages [or to deny his existence] does not protect the innocent or the striving.  Satan is real and has hold of the hearts of millions in our time.  I will remember and teach my children and grandchildren that he seeks to destroy all our Father’s children BUT we can safely trust in the promises and covenants of God our Father, knowing that ALWAYS God and his Son have power over Satan and the Father’s plan will unfold as he ordains it. 

The greatest lesson of 9/ll:  Stay on the Lord’s side and work harder than Satan and his minions to learn what the Father wants of me and do it.