America
under attack. What now?
When
the crimes were committed we were working on “The Parish Post,” and then the
world was changed into something entirely different.
The
United States of America has been attacked. The assault was carefully planned
and well executed, and now we know a little about how our predecessors felt on
December 7, 1941. Now, for us, there is “before 8:42 a.m. Tuesday, September
11, 2001,” and afterward.
So far
the terrorists—whoever they are—are winning. We are a nation paralyzed,
transfixed in front of our TV sets and the Internet. Even now, only a few hours
into this new world, we see ourselves for what we were before this morning:
innocents in a murderous world. The immunity that oceans have given us has
expired. Nothing can protect you from an organization of killers with unlimited
financial resources and operatives who believe dying while killing Americans is
a sure ticket to heaven.
Now we begin to pay the price
for our innocence, and the only question is how high will it go? Are we
hostages to violence now? Will the terrorists be able to keep our planes on the
ground? Will our business and our society grind to a halt in fear and
fascination? Will the greatest democratic experiment ever undertaken become
less free? And perhaps most of all, will God help us?
On Tuesday,
we and countless other churches opened their doors for prayer. We conducted a
service on Tuesday night. We prayed for the souls of the departed and for those
who love them. We prayed for ourselves.
The
answer to our prayers will come. We are a people who despise adversity but who,
at the same time, win the toughest battles and produce heroes. God is with us,
and especially with those who died and the millions who are victimized by these
crimes.
As the
dust settles on lower Manhattan, and the gloom settles in, life will go on. A
different life, but life nevertheless. The malls will reopen. Hallowe’en and
Thanksgiving will come and go. Christmas will come, and we will have our trees
and our presents.
I was
one of millions of people on Tuesday who were on the phone, just wanting to
reach my wife and my children even though all of us live far from New York City
or Washington. I then realized one good that will come of this. As the days and
seasons go by, I will be more conscious of the people I love. I will be more
thankful for them and for the fact that we live in freedom.
I will
be thankful not for revenge or even for justice, but for life and love. No one
can really take that away, can they?
In the
words of Bishop Alexander, “May God be with us even in the midst of suffering
and tragedy.” We know that he is, and maybe that’s the only answer we need.
-
Tom Smith