Day 41 – A Day of Remembrance And Tragedy – September 11th

Today marks twenty-four years since our country was attacked by hijacked planes being flown into both the World Trade Center buildings and other planes that were stopped by passengers. In the 1980s, I worked for the number one brokerage firm in the United States. I spoke to people who worked in those two buildings regularly, and we formed friendships that resulted in an invitation for me to visit New York. That was in 1986. They took me on a tour of both Towers. They also took me to see Cats on Broadway, to the Statue of Liberty, and to the top of the Empire State Building. I had a wonderful time.

In 1987, a mini stock market crash occurred, and the firm I worked for, due to a lack of diversification, dissolved. There were no jobs in the financial and brokerage fields anywhere. I had to change careers, and I lost touch with all of them. I often wonder if any were in the Towers on that fateful day, and always pray none of them were. It is a trip I will hold dear in my heart, as it was before New York became what it is now.

I was a young mother feeding my child breakfast when the news came on. Jay called me and told me to turn on the TV. I was shocked and so afraid of what might happen next. There were heroes and sorrows beyond our imagination, and so this day remains one we cannot forget.

So the day began on a sad note.

Jay and I were out getting some groceries, something usually required when we arrive at a new RV site, as we let our supplies dwindle to make traveling easier. Getting back in our car, I opened my phone to read the news that Charlie Kirk, a young man I had followed since he was around twenty years old, had been shot. His death had not yet occurred. I knew he was a young father of two children. I knew what he stood for and believed in, as I have followed him for so long. And like me, he was a Christian in the true sense of the word. He lived his faith daily (I do my best).

This event was right on the heels of a young Ukrainian woman being murdered in Charlotte, North Carolina. A woman who had left a bomb shelter and come to the United States expecting to be safe. A mentally ill man murdered her, stabbed her, and it took almost two minutes for anyone to help her. They looked away. They looked at their phones. And Iryna Zarutska bled out in front of them.

And the next day, another school shooting in Evergreen, Colorado. Two students were injured. The shooter does not deserve mention.

I have spent days crying. Well, about a month of it. That is not my normal personality. I don’t cry much, but I have cried every day for many days for these poor souls. And my tears over my toe surgery issues seem so small, even though I go to surgery tomorrow to have my entire toe removed due to the incompetence of the medical staff in Missoula, Montana. I am broken over the “evil that men do.”

What I can’t abide by are the continued comments of those who, rather than see this for what it is – a failure of us, as human beings, to raise up our children to be better, to teach against evil, to stand firm as one nation – want to lash out at one political side or the other. Or, shockingly, expect the most unworthy of us, the politicians, to somehow fix this for us. I have written and shared a great deal on my Facebook page about all this. I’m appalled and ashamed of what so many are saying. What is wrong with people? When did this evil infect an entire nation?

This isn’t about gun control, Republican vs Democrat, Trump vs whomever you think is better. This is about “Us.” You and me and what we have allowed our children and ourselves to become. It is about evil. And while these occurrences are scriptural, it is hard to see them happen. And hard to read some of the things people say, especially from those I love and thought I knew.

One post I shared from a friend:

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

“For the Lord suffereth the righteous to be slain that his justice and judgment may come upon the wicked; therefore ye need not suppose that the righteous are lost because they are slain; but behold, they do enter into the rest of the Lord their God.” Alma 60

And my own thoughts:

All these horrors – the Anniversary of 9/11, the senseless murder of Iryna Zarutska, the senseless murder of Charlie Kirk, and the Evergreen, CO school shooting – yet many posts of political hatred go forward. This – this is part of it all. No excuses. Be the people who bring about love, peace, kindness, respect, decency. Don’t carry forth more hatred and blame. You know not what you do.

And so for Charlie Kirk, whom I followed for so many years, over whom it feels personal:

Revelations 6, verses 9-11

Rest now, thy good and faithful servant.

Dear Readers, Peace be unto you. May you find safety and courage in all that you do.