Remember and Restore

Today is 9/11. September the eleventh, in the year twenty-thirteen.... Somehow that does not seem consistent, but what does it matter anyway?

We think about the events of a day that will live in infamy, because it showed Americans just how vulnerable we are. The very weapons used by terrorists on that awful day were commonplace---airplanes filled with commuters, ordinary wives, mothers, sons, fathers, best friends, businessmen, who added mass to the terrorist's methods of destruction.

Since then, we have instituted elaborate screening methods and eves-dropping surveillance that has intruded into the very concept of freedom and privacy.  The question is: are we as a nation any safer for it?

Time.

The passing of time, the methods to record time, the very reasons for the concept of time have varied according to cultural demands of the society using it. Agrarian societies rise with the sun, eat at midday or when they are hungry, and sleep when it is dark. It was only with the advent of industry that people structured their lives by the common denominator of time.

 Now we struggle with the weight of those years which have passed.  Over a decade since the twin towers collapsed, and the cost of the war that followed is yet to be measured.

In the span of a morning, filled with sunshine and promise, almost 3,000 people died.  It is estimated that it will cost over a trillion dollars to treat the wounded warriors resulting from war efforts to even the score. Our responsibility is to remember and to restore.

 Now, we take time in this morning of 9/11 to murmur prayers and promise that we will never forget. It will take longer, with God's help,  to forgive.