Sunday, September 11, 2011

Sunday thoughts


Eva and I stayed home sick today.

I recorded and then watched the program with Tom Brokaw that showed the coverage of memorial ceremonies in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania.

On this day, 10 years after the terrorist attacks on 9/11, I thought I remembered it pretty vividly.


Then I re-watched the coverage that I watched live, of the planes hitting the towers, and the towers collapsing; of people screaming and running, the clouds of dust, the firefighters.

Oh. Now I really remember. The shock. The horror.

So many people died–some because they just went to work. Some because they were first responders. Some because they were heroes.

Then, I had a 6-year-old and a 2-year-old. Now, I have a 16-year-old, a 12-year-old, and a 2-year-old. So much has changed in those ten years. In some ways it feels as though nothing is the same.

Then, the country was so united. Now, not so much.

I watched children and other loved ones of those who died that day speak of their love, their determination to make their mothers, fathers, husbands, wives proud.

I am grateful for people who would sacrifice everything, even their lives, to help others. I am grateful for the freedoms we enjoy, and all those who serve us to preserve those freedoms. I am grateful for my knowledge that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us, for our Savior and his sacrifice for us, for the plan that ensures that loved ones will be reunited again; for my knowledge that when we trust in the Lord, nothing can ever go permanently wrong.

3 comments:

Neighbor Jane Payne said...

Amen. Amen. And Amen.

I really enjoyed Music and the Spoken Word today. It celebrated a country that is resilient and God-fearing.

I, too, remember it so clearly. I remember talking to a hotdog vender in New York after it happened. I will never forget the vacant look in his eyes as he recalled it. I will also never forget the eeriness of hearing all the firemen's beepers (allowing people to locate them in an emergency) beeping the morning after the attacks when the buildings lay in rubble. There were no bodies to recover, just the beepers going off everywhere reminding everyone of how many had died in their attempts to rescue.

I am so grateful for faith. I am so grateful for heroes. I am so grateful for goodness. It helps me to remember that evil acts like these will never snuff out the plan of our Father in Heaven. It gives us an opportunity to resolve to live better.

Charlotte said...

Firstly, I hope you and Eva are feeling better!

And it's humbling to me to think of how united our country was in the weeks and months following the attacks. It makes me sad that we're now a country so divisive, and I hope that we can find common ground again without such tragedy.

I too am so grateful for a knowledge of this gospel that gives us the knowledge that in the end, all will be at peace.

patsy said...

I too recorded & watched the Tom Brokaw tabernacle special. It was fantastic! We watched it more than once- it was so good.

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