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  Posted on September 11, 2003                                                                              by Benj A

It's been just two years since that horrid day, the defining day for this generation.  The last such defining day for Americans, prior to 9.11, was probably the day that Pearl Harbor was bombed during WW II.  A day that some of our parents remember, but which we can only read about.

But 9.11.01 is indeliby seared into our minds.  Never can it be forgotten.  

Has your life changed in any way since that day?  Did you stop going to certain places for awhile?  Did you avoid certain types of people?  Were racial epithets flung at you because of your ethnicity?  I remember driving one day in the fall of 2001, and accidentally cutting someone off in a traffic lane.  He quickly swerved to my left side, caught up with me and yelled "Go back to Arabia!" followed by a few unprintable words.  My reaction:  I actually wasn't too upset.  That guy had no way to distinguish me, appearance-wise, from some of the 9-11 murderers.  He had no way to know that I am a Christian.  No way to know that I was born and raised in the USA, and that I probably have as much attachment to this nation as he does.      

Has your relationship with God changed in any way?  This is a tremendously important question, and one that should be seriously reflected on.  There's a lot that could be written on this subject, but I would rather leave you to think about the question.  "... let us test and examine our ways.  Let us turn again in repentance to the Lord.  Let us lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven." Lamentations 3:40-41.     

Do you think the Bush administration is doing a good job in the War on Terror?  Clearly this "new" war is his team's #1 priority.  In my humble opinion, they are doing a decent job at waging this war despite the hurdles and the miscalculations.  Iraq, for example.  Was there really any other choice outside of deposing Saddam, in the post 9-11 world?  Could a madman with nuclear ambitions (and the money to pursue them) really be trusted in a world where militants would not hesitate to use such weapons if they laid hands on them?  Prime Minister Tony Blair (Great Britain) is suffering a huge political price for standing with Bush in this War.  He very well may not get re-elected.  Bush himself may not get re-elected (who knows?).  But such a war makes politics seem very tiny and insignificant.  And yet, who the leaders of this nation are couldn't have more significance in such a war.  How would Clinton or Gore or Howard Dean have responded?      

What will you say to your kids about your memories of 9.11?  Where were you at?  Who were you with?  Did you cry?   

Where do we go from here?  Prayer - lots of it - is an obvious answer.  Prayer for our nation, our families, our churches, the now-frightening world that we live in, our leaders, ourselves.