I was working at Petco in Davenport, Iowa that Tuesday when I was called into the breakroom where we had a small television set up for employees to use during their break time. A couple of others had already gathered there and were glued to the images being shown on the screen. One of the twin towers was billowing smoke from an upper floor... and moments later, we watched as a plane came crashing into the second tower.
I'm sure that many of us who were alive twenty years ago can tell our own story of where we were when the towers came crashing down... twenty years ago today. We can tell the story of where we were when nearly 3,000 lives were lost, and when our nation launched almost instantly into an experience of unity that, in my lifetime, has never been seen before...
...nor since.
In fact, with our shared lived experience these past several years, it's more and more difficult to recall how we as a nation came together that day and in the weeks that followed.
Cars almost instantly were adorned with American flags on antennas, bumpers and windows. And that following Sunday, our churches experienced a resurgence in attendance as people flooded back to the faith communities they felt might offer them solace or answers or at least a gathering place with others to grief the tragedy inflicted upon our nation.
Since then, our churches have emptied out. Many of the flags disappeared. And the common desire for unity has dissipated. So much so that we now, in the midst of two extremely deadly pandemics, find ourselves with less and less in common with our neighbors as we fight over masks and vaccines and freedom.
What happened to that connection that came in the midst of a common tragedy? Where is that vehement spirit of community that accompanied such great loss?
Why did we see it then, with 3,000 deaths and not now with over 650,000 Americans dead from COVID?
Now, I in no way seek to diminish the grief and anguish that accompanies this date as it returns to our calendars year after year. I, in no way wish to deny the valiant sacrifices made by so many. And I will join with my neighbors year after year to #NeverForget the events of September 11, 2001.
However, I wonder if we will come to a time in our journeys where we will give as much energy and effort to remembering hundreds of thousands of people who did not deserve, nor need to die over the course of these past eighteen months.
I wonder what it would take for us to come to a time when we can invest that energy into putting an end to COVID deaths? What will it take to bring us together to protect one another, to be united with one another... to care for one another?
As followers of Christ, that's at the heart of how we are commanded to live.
As citizens of this nation, it is also supposedly at the heart of the allegiance we are asked to pledge.
My prayer is that we come to a time when both can once again be true... in our words and our actions.
Today I grieve the loss our nation endured on that fateful day in 2001... and then I move on to try to bring about an end to the tragedy within which we find ourselves this day.
Twenty years from now I want to be able to look back and give thanks for the ways we came together to put an end to it all... an end to the fighting, the division, the misinformation and abuse. And most importantly, I want to be able to look back and celebrate how we came together to put an end to the unnecessary deaths brought on by COVID-19.
I invite you to consider doing the same.
#NeverForget
