Sunday, September 11, 2011

What if everyday was September 11th?

Today I cannot stop thinking.....Ten years ago today our country was attacked. It was horrible. It was wrong. It was devastating. We lost thousands of people to senseless violence. I think most of us have that day forever etched in our minds. I was a college student in Cookeville getting ready for my classes that day in the house I shared with several friends when I saw the news. I will never forget the feelings of that day and those that followed...fear, sorrow, anger, dread, confusion, loss of (perceived) control over life. Psychologically it was terrorizing for all of us. If you lived through it you know. I can remember being flat on my face before the Lord and crying out to Him. And as we look back we certainly need to remember those who suffered losses that day. I have been praying for each of them. We need to be sad and mourn what we lost both physically and psychologically. We need to look to God and know that He is our ever-present help in trouble if we belong to Him. What happened that day was no doubt horrible and will always be horrible.
But, here's what I cannot stop thinking about today.....Why is it that when we think of September 11th we are saddened, moved, angered, all kinds of emotions come up because of the injustice that occured on that day and the over 3,000 innocent lives that were lost. However, when we hear about a famine in Africa in which over 29,000 children under 5 have already lost their lives we just go about our business. I don't get it. I mean, yeah, something that happened here obviously hits closer to home. It relates to us on a closer level. But, these people are people. They are just as much God's children as we are. And, I cannot help but think that what is going on over their grieves God's heart as much if not more than what happened here on that horrific day 10 years ago. These people are experiencing the emotions we experienced on 9/11 everyday to some degree. They are watching as the most innocent of innocent die-thier children. As I am typing this you should know that it is my own apathy about world hunger and strife that moves me to write it. I want my heart to be broken by the things that break God's heart and not only by the things that involve my own little world. So, today I can't stop thinking......What if we got as angry about famine as we do about 9/11/01. What if we all did something in order to help? What if we rallied and fought hunger with the fierceness that we fight terrorists? What then? In that kind of world where we love our neighbor no matter how far, where injustice just isn't tolerated, where we are a human race instead of only individual nations, maybe terrorism would cease to be such an issue. Maybe......What if???