Hello everyone! I know it has been a few weeks since I've written a blog. I promise I didn't fall of the earth, ha! The Delta COVID-19 surge keeps me busy in my public health life. Thankfully, I was able to take a vacation two weeks ago. It was helpful to refresh and not be involved in the everyday decision making for COVID. I was also blessed with some writing inspiration while way which I will be sharing in the coming weeks.
I had plans to write one of four identity blogs I have been making notes for, however, with 9/11 upon us this weekend, I wanted to convey my thoughts to you.
Twenty years ago today, this nation was rocked and shaken to its core. Never had evil so
blatantly (other than in the time of WWII in recent history) tried to disrupt a nation (and the
world) so profoundly ,with such hatred, and no remorse. A new and seemingly powerful,
terrorizing enemy emerged from the shadows onto the world stage, arrogantly calling itself Al-Qaeda (“the base”). They certainly succeeded in creating chaos and reigning down death, thevery things they worshiped. However, that is not all they accomplished that day; stay with me.
Four planes, two towers, one Pentagon, and a field near Shanksville, PA where their weapons
of choice – unprecedented to that date, and never imagined in the national perspective. Two
thousand nine hundred and seventy-seven people (2,977) died on this day, 20 years ago. Many more were injured or simply never found. Others barely escaped with their lives. On this day, 20 years ago, it would seem evil had won. Death and destruction filled the airwaves, our television sets, and our minds. Yet, there was something that evil did not count on that day– something it will never understand or overcome – the power and light of Love.
It was love that drove the passengers of flight 93 to overwhelm the terrorists who had high-
jacked their flight and push it off course to crash in an unintended place – a field near
Shanksville, PA – losing their own lives in the process. It was love that motivated first-
responders in Washington DC and New York City to run into burning and collapsing towers to
save the people they could, many being injured or dying in the process. It was love that
galvanized a nation to send letters, notes, teddy bears, food, water, blankets, clothing –
anything first responders needed in the days ahead. It was all love! It was love that the terrorists did not count on. They counted on fear, but it was love that won in the days ahead. Love won all over this nation as we rejected bigotry and embraced our neighbors of Muslim faith. This the terrorists did not intend! It was this same love that united a nation in the fight against such an enemy, a love for one another. No terrorist ever sees that coming!
Jesus said it best this way in the gospel of John; “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:33
These people indeed laid down their lives for friends and strangers alike on that day and in the coming days. People have been laying down their lives to refute and condemn the ugliness that began that day for the last twenty years. And this my friends, evil did not ever imagine would happen. Why you ask? It's a simple explanation. Evil does not know love so it will not expect love. Evil does not comprehend love so it has no reference point from which to understand it. Evil does not practice love so it has no idea of the power love wields. Love won on September 11th, 2021 and the days that followed; not fear and not hate. We as a nation loved one another and came together to heal our wounds.
I do not fear for us even now, for I believe we can do this again. We have the love it takes to do this in this time. That same love will confuse evil and send it back to the shadows as it did then. That same love will pull the roots of division and hate that have been sown with such audacity in this nation. We are powerful when we walk in love. We are indestructible when we walk in love. We are one when we walk in love. I call us all to be one today in love as we were then! Let the light of Love be our light, that no evil can comprehend (John 1:5, paraphrased)!
Let us be one nation, under a loving and living God (who really does care for all), indivisible,
with justice for all men, women, boys and girls; no matter what! Let this be our 9/11 legacy; not just a historical legacy, but a way of life from this point forward.
In love and unity,
Elizabeth
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