A day for adulting

In most of the years since I began writing my words here I have done a post commemorating 9/11 in some fashion. I’m sure my grandparents’ generation felt the same way when Pearl Harbor Day came around seeing that it occurred when they were in their adult years. (I know my mom’s mom and dad were in their late 20s, but I don’t recall when my dad’s parents were born – I think at the time they were in their late 30s since they both died fairly young, before I was far along in school.)

This year I’m reflecting more on the aftermath, once the initial shock of watching the World Trade Center collapse and realizing that the death toll would be in the thousands from the attack wore off. After we finally slept on what had occurred that fateful day, we were truly united states. There was a new respect for first responders and righteous anger at those who perpetrated the attack – it really didn’t matter if you were well left or well right on the political spectrum.

Oh! how the circumstances have changed in 19 years. If 9/11 were to happen tomorrow, the left would be wanting to hang Donald Trump for treason while the right would declare it open season on terrorists, defined as those who were insufficiently loyal to America. Because we were just a few months into the first term of George W. Bush, we didn’t have the specter of an upcoming national election, although this did affect some primaries going on across the country – including Toledo, where I lived at the time.

Be that as it may, in 19 years we have gone from united to divided, sort of like being in our own respective Twin Tower. In that regard we may be ripe for another terrorist attack although the measures put in place after 9/11 have done a good job with homeland security. Add in the pandemic and our issues are much more broad-based. All this is why I saw adulting as a logical extension of my remarks on the occasion last year.

Finally, over the last few months I’ve found myself in prayer more often and one thing I pray for is a revival in this land. If a terrorist attack could unite us for just a few weeks imagine what turning ourselves over to our Lord can do.

9/11 is always a good time for reflection, so perhaps this is something worth a devotion.