I am haunted when I close my eyes: I see the people falling from the highest floors of the World Trade Center.  Martyrs for freedom, they fell perilously after making their decision between fire and gravity.  They bear an almost symbolic statement of the freedom that makes this nation great, and I can only pray that as they plummeted down to the distant Manhattan streets that they found comfort in God, and in the knowledge that their martyrdom would not be forgotten.  They are reminders of the fragility of life, and the cruelty of chance.

 

Just before 7 am PST on Tuesday morning, I received a call from my Mom: America was under attack.  It was then that my roommate and I became painfully aware that we had no antenna for the TV and so could not watch the news.  But soon we found a small handheld TV, and we were just in time to see a live-feed broadcast the collision of a second airliner into the World Trade center and just in time to see its collapse.  It was then I realized that these acts were undeniably deliberate and that we were at war.

 

And so I huddled on my couch with several close friends around a 2-inch screen.  We each dealt with it in our own ways: Grief.  Disbelief.  Cynicism.  Later that day as I sat watching TV using some newly purchased rabbit ears the crisis was suddenly humanized.  Only on this larger screen was I able to appreciate the extent of the damage.  Only there did I see the people falling to their deaths.

 

Before that image it was easy to disassociate myself from the damage.  It was a building: Tall.  Cold.  Detached.  And then suddenly on my screen there were people, Americans…on their way to death.  Only then did it truly become real, and only then did the crisis really penetrate my psyche.

 

I will forever remember where I was at 7 am on September 11, 2001.  I was sleeping.  And from my sleep I was accosted by the unthinkable acts of terror…from my bed, in America, where I was supposed to be safe.  I will forever be haunted when in close my eyes and yet somehow I will find meaning in this; somehow I will find a way to deal with it.  I will forever be haunted when I close my eyes, and yet I will find comfort in God.  I will forever be haunted when I close my eyes, and I will pray. 

 

I will pray for the victims of this crisis.  I will pray for the heroic rescuers, so many of who have become victims themselves.  I will pray for the perpetrators, whose logic somehow allowed them to feel justified in such an atrocity.  I will pray for myself, that I will find meaning in this.  I will pray for the media, that they will put aside the lust for ratings and come together for the good of the nation.  I will pray for the nation, that the American people will handle this crisis with grace, vigilance, and strength.  I will pray for President Bush and the rest of the leaders in the government, that they will allow God to guide their decisions.  I will pray; and I ask everyone who reads this to join me:

 

Our Father in Heaven,

Hallowed be Your name,

Your Kingdom come,

Your will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

Forgive us our debts,

As we also have forgiven our debtors,

And lead us not into temptation

But deliver us from the evil one.

Amen.

 

Sincerely,

Dave Garrison

 

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