A prayer for peace
I didn’t feel that I had to write anything on the 10th anniversary of September 11th, but I wanted to share a couple thoughts. First, like many of you, I can’t believe that it’s been ten years already — it feels like it happened just a couple years ago. I remember looking up at the skies that afternoon and realizing there wasn’t a single commercial plane in the air over the whole country at that point. A week later, I got on board a plane myself for a convention, talking with a passenger who had lost an ex-fiancee in the towers.
A lot of people at the time predicted that this marked the death of irony or humor or what have you, but that wasn’t quite true. Life goes on, even after tragedy. It’s not the first time the human race has had to pick itself up after a good blow to the stomach, but looking back, it’s remarkable how we bounce back. Sure, we have scars, we have loss, and we carry the pain, but living is the best way to respond to those who deal in death.
Today I have a simple prayer for peace. Even as we live in a fallen world that is prone to the worst evils that people can conjure up, there is hope for a better future. I pray that not only the terrorist will lay down his arms, but that the heated political discussion that’s driving apart two friends will be cast to the wind and forgotten. I pray that bigotry and prejudice will be overcome with unrestricted love. I pray that the lessons we learn in the darkest moments in our life will help to forge a better person in us, that we will care for others even if we have been abused.
I pray for peace in the hearts of those who are still missing their loved ones, not just from 9/11 but from every senseless, cruel, and sudden attack. I pray they will be comforted and not forgotten, for pain can last a lifetime.
We’ve seen the worst. We can strive for the best. And at the end of that path is the joy of a peace.
- Posted in: General
Amen Syp, amen.
Amen brother!
Amen!
Well said sir
Amen.
Well said, Syp.
Amen! you can’t go wrong when you pray
As an irreligious person I’m not sure about the prayer thingy. Though I agree the sentiments of your wishes.
I was a child when President Kennedy was shot, and a young man when his brother followed his unfortunate fate as the victim of hostile stupidity. Those folks old enough to tell you about the emotional impact those events had on the whole nation will confirm that it was very much akin to the day the towers fell.
I spent that morning incredulously staring at CNN on the TV and trying to wrap my head around exactly what kind of vile concotion of visciousness and stupidity had resulted in so much heart ache for so many folks just trying to go about their daily lives.
I’m not a pacifist by any stretch, and I’ve served in the U.S. Navy when I was young man… but, I’ve never seen any lasting good result from “blood for blood” just for the sake of revenge. Removing a threat, yes… emotionally stiking out for vengeance, no.
Peace comes at a very steep price of personal sacrifice of some for the safety of many. And it’s worth it.
My prayer is that men and women with honor and perspective continue to be willing to make the sacrifices necessary for others to live in peace and not under the threat of violent stupidity.
If history is any guide, I have every belief that my prayer will be answered.
amen
I agree with your prayer for peace, with two caveats. The first is the knowledge that not all of us may agree on what constitutes bigotry and prejudice in certain situations. But we can agree upon the topic of hoping for an end to bigotry without agreeing upon the specifics.
The second caveat is harder, though; the one of political arguments. I truly believe, in the US at least and likely in some other countries as well, that we’re at a crossroads where the politics IS a life or death matter, worth fighting for, because the country could survive or collapse depending on the decisions made. I think we’ve bled much of the resilience out of the American economy, its ability to overcome the stupidity or malice of its leadership, and we’re at a point where it will be either saved or destroyed depending on which politico-economic worldview gets the upperhand. If things are that dire, losing a friend may not be an excessive price.