I wasn't there. I didn't see the planes or smell the dust or hear the screams or the agonizing silence.
Safely tucked away in the Midwest where nothing bad like that ever happens, I listened in horror. The radio newscaster's voice broke as he tried to relay information about unreal events. It sounded like a bad Hollywood movie, but it was real.
This time it wasn't Jerusalem or Belfast or Seoul. It was happening in our country. The United States of America.
Someone had the audacity to take advantage of our trust. The idea that everyone here from wherever they came could learn to become whoever they wanted to be.
No one expected that would mean that a would-be pilot would destroy instead of build.
Over the years I have spoken with New Yorkers about what this meant to them. They tell of their sorrow, who they knew, how they got out, where they were. They never tire of the telling and I'm grateful.
We can't forget this.
Not so we become angry, refusing to allow "foreigners" to learn new trades. Not so we become suspicious of everyone who looks like someone who might have been involved.
So we can be wary, alert, cautious and protect not only our country from this violence - but other countries as well.
This time it was New York City. It's true. How did we feel?
Many, many times in my lifetime it's has been Beirut, Kabul, Seoul, Belfast, Jersusalem. Lockerbie, Moscow. How do they feel?
What can we as human beings do to lessen the violence in our world? What would Jesus do?
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