Ten years ago the world as we knew it changed. The phrase 9/11 that emerged defines one moment in time that continues to grow. While I know where I was, I also recognize that I have still not come to terms with everything that happened. The one thing I realize is that there is a thread of understanding that binds those that were touched together.
I do not think “we” know all the details, even after the long period of reflection. The day was chaos. Nobody had any idea that the events on that day that did happen could. We were not prepared. The events caught us by surprise. Whatever warnings were available had been heard outside of the possibilities of what followed. Each impossibility was followed by something equally impossible. The layers of events compounded and overwhelmed our ability to understand what was happening. Even with time, the facts still push me to a place of confusion, numbness, and an inability to understand.
I know I still feel the language that binds me with friends that were in New York on the day. With one, we were on the telephone, speaking with each other when the second place hit a tower. Whatever the words were, the communication was clear.
I remember walking back into the meeting I had been attending only to hear words that made no sense. Candidly, “if I don’t understand the language, it’s not going to do me much good. It’s no different with you.” (1 Corinthians 14.11) The individual dismissed events as something overstated and sensationalized.
I knew what I had heard. More importantly, I felt what I had heard. I understood that the world as I had known it no longer existed. Whatever one’s views, they were different.
I also knew that the meeting I was in did not make sense. I asked to leave, taking my mobile and heading out into the sunshine to feel the breeze. I needed to reconnect with a bigger story. As I called friends and family, I found myself with others in God’s family.
