9/11 to me

Today is September, 11^th.  It represents the ten year anniversary of what has lead to many changes in our country, and others.

I woke up that morning, it was my day off.  I was the Executive Housekeeper at the Embassy Suites.  I was talking to a dear friend of mine, Weenonah Bayer.  As we were talking we both happened to turn the news on and was confused.  We hung up trying to get a grip on it.  She has a son that lives near DC, so her focus was on that story.  Then the image that will forever be burned into my memory with little chance of being erased.  With smoke coming out of one of the towers, I watched as the big plane flew right into the other tower. After seeing it a couple of times, it still did not register to me what the hell was going on.  I called Nonah back and asked her.  When we both clued in, we both were hysterical for different reasons.

How did you react?  What did you do?  I wanted to go shoe shopping.  I could not find a store that was opened.  I threw a fit.  Yelling, using foul language, ready to fight someone, something…  I was mad as hell that someone did this to my country.  Even for that moment, New York was mine too!

The word I use today is numb.  I was numb then and I am numb now.  I don’t read books, I don’t watch movies and don’t like photos of that day.  I don’t know if it is too much for me to bare or as long as I don’t have to deal with it, I don’t have to deal with it.

That does mean I have not cried.  That does not mean I have not prayed.  And that does not mean that I have not given thought to those who lost their lives and who gave their lives that day (and the days following.)

I am not sure what our country has learned from this event.  I am saddened to read and listen to the words of others who condemn all Muslims for the events of that day.  I don’t understand how an entire group of people (in varying degrees of their faith) can be held accountable for the action of those who took actions that were not representing Muslims world-wide or ALL Muslims for that matter.

Andrea Raynor has been serving as a Ground Zero Chaplain since 9/11/01.  While working in the morgue for many weeks she received body bag after body bag.  She offered a blessing not knowing what religion the person had practiced.  One day, what was believed to be the remains of the hijackers were found, a worker helped here instead.  She asked “Was this body desecrated in any way when you found it?  Was it spat upon or treated in any disrespectful way?”  And what she was told brought her to tears.  The reply from the worker was “These remains were treated with the same respect as all the other remains.  After all, this is still someone’s son.”

Romans 12:5 tells us “…we are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.”  Reading that story conjured up many emotions, thoughts and visions.  I keep thinking of MLK being shot, JFK being shot, Harvey Milk being shot, and so many others.  I think of the rage of hate that others have when they want to bring harm or demonstrate indifference towards other human beings.  No one is a second class citizen.  We are all from the same universe, when we will start treating each other as equals?