The Spirit of September 12

Much is said, for good reason, about September 11, 2001. Far too little is said about September 12, 2001. There is as much to learn from 9/12 as there is to learn from 9/11, perhaps more. We seem intent on remembering the lessons of the former, and almost equally intent on forgetting the lessons of the latter.

On the morning of September 12, 2001, we awoke to a different world. That world was not just one that had been shocked by an insane act of terrorism. It was a world that was united against the insanity of terrorism.

The “we” who awoke that morning was not limited to Americans. We were the world, and the world was us. Essentially every person who did not fall within the small circumference of religious or political zealots who we call “terrorists” was, on that morning, united in its revulsion.

On September 11, we gazed in stunned silence upon the destruction formerly known as the Twin Towers. On September 12, we witnessed that silence give birth to a precious unity and an incomparable resolve. The doors and windows that had been blow off those Towers were simultaneously blown open to all who watched them fall.

It was a moment of light breaking through the darkest cloud that had ever passed over America and all that America stood for in the world. It was a light coming from all good and decent people outside America, which was immediately joined by the light from all good and decent people inside America.

We were not Americans, Europeans, Africans, Asians, Islanders or any other national, ethnic or cultural clan; we were not liberal, conservative, moderate, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian or any other political persuasion; we were not Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, agnostics, atheists or any other adherent on the religious spectrum; we were not rich, poor, middle class or any other economic classification; we were not black, white, brown or any other racial hue; we were not straight, gay, bi, trans or any other orientation. We were a world united; we were good and decent people everywhere.

We, the world, bonded in our shared goodness and decency on September 12, 2001. We, the world, thought and felt and spoke as one that day. We, the world, were prepared to act as one that day.

But, then, the moment passed; the fires were smothered; the smoke wafted away; the dust settled; the planes began to fly again; the funerals were held. We went back to business as usual with little impact outside the airport security lines. What we had found together in stunned silence and what we shared together for several unique months in history began to dissipate, along with the unusual opportunity that this outrage presented us.

What happened? The new vision of unity gave way to the old illusion of division. From the horrible union represented by the commingled rubble of 220 floors at Ground Zero we once again erected a house divided. The world extended its hand to us and we extended our hand to each other – and then we let go and each of us walked our own way.

We forgot the power of silence and we began to talk, again. For a while the voices spoke words of wisdom and security, but before long the voices began to speak words of fear and insecurity. A frightened and deafening noise became the order of the day and the new pledge of allegiance.

America, the presumptive guardian of peace around the world, almost unilaterally declared war on two nouns – terrorism and tyranny – apparently losing sight of the fact that that war had first been declared not long after humankind organized itself into nations, religions and political powers, and had been fought endlessly for thousands of years in countless places around the world. Absent the millennial reign of a just and merciful God, there is no end to that war. Mankind cannot achieve victory against evil because evil resides in the hearts and minds of fearful people, nestled close to the false righteousness of self-interest.

What do we do? We can start as we started on September 12, 2001, by stopping and observing moments of silence during which we rediscover the ever-present basis for unity with other people throughout our country and around our world. In those moments we can reconnect with the reality that the world presents us with a unifying horror of some kind every day – be it war, terrorism, tyranny, genocide, torture, slavery, assassination, nuclear proliferation, poverty, famine, drought, deadly disease, infant mortality, the violent abuse of women and children, drug trafficking and addiction, abject hunger and homelessness, or the ever-near natural disaster.

Everyday thousands of men, women and children, most of whom are innocent victims, die from these horrors just as the 2998 innocent victims from 90 countries died from the horror in America on 9/11. Each of these horrors is equally deserving of its own war. Which is more deserving of the blood and treasure of our national and personal sacrifice? Which is less deserving?

What do we do? We can realize that we are in every one of these wars together, whether we believe that or not. We can realize that what happens to others and their families happens to us and our families. We can recall the oft-used words of John Donne:

All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated; God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God's hand is in every translation, and his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again for that library where every book shall lie open to one another. As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come, so this bell calls us all….

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.

Meditation XVII from Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions

Can you hear the bell toll today?