Blogger: 9/11 Taught Us That We Know Not The Day Or The Hour

This is the week when we will all remember the tenth anniversary of the tragedy of 9/1,1 and how it changed our lives forever.  

No doubt you have been watching some of the television programs being aired as I have been, leaving us with a renewed sorrow for what happened and a spirit of hope for what has become of the World Trade Center area today. If you have watched any of the Discovery Channel programs and how they were designing and building the WTC Memorial area, you may have been as touched as I was to hear the stories and plans they made together.  They went into great detail about how they designed the largest water pumps ever built to make sure the water in the footprints of the towers would cascade down 30 feet and return back up again everyday.

The man who helped create this plumbing feat lost his mother that day in the tragedy. The man who was the contractor for the garden area felt strongly that the only standing tree, a pear tree, damaged in the ruins of the towers needed to be included with the 400 trees being brought in and he had to fight for his idea because not everyone felt so strongly about the damaged, lone pear tree!  

They went into detail about the names of the deceased and how they wanted them to be grouped together around the waterfalls in a way that represented their connections in life.  So if they were friends at work, then they would place their names in bronze next to one another as well.

I had no idea they were doing all that they did and I am very proud of New York City for what they have accomplished so far.

In the coming days, we will hear of threats and tears, hopes and dreams, but through it all we know that when there is a struggle in or for America, we cling to our values of freedom, human rights and equality in order to get through it.  The will of the American people has always been to defend the defenseless, fight for freedom and unite ourselves to accomplish it.  Our country is formed out of 50 separate states that decided it was better to stand together for what we believed, than to go it alone. We don't see this in other places like Africa, South America or Europe.   

We're more than our economy, military, government — we are a people who believe in something greater than ourselves or a higher power that reaches out to embrace all people.  My belief is in God and His Son, Jesus Christ who came to save us from what destroys life, but many are inspired by other faith traditions that help them walk this life with hope, love and compassion.  

Whatever a person believes, may it bring us all closer together to be a united people ready to support those who need freedom, human rights and equality the world over because none of us knows when the day or hour will come in our lives.