[ A good friend recently reminded me that I had written this almost exactly twenty years ago, in October, 2001, in the aftermath of 9/11. Given the thoughts and emotions evoked upon re-reading, it seemed worthwhile to reprint here, unchanged.]
Why did it take this to bring us together?
Why did it take this to have us care about strangers;
– see value in all human life;
– proudly proclaim what we believe;
– publicly renounce evil;
– pray?
Recall that African American woman we wept with at a prayer service;
– that Italian teenager and Asian man at the donation center;
– that elderly Hispanic during a moment of silence;
– that Irish girl with the poster of her missing father;
– that Jew, Baptist, Catholic, Methodist, Hindu, Presbyterian, Buddhist, Lutheran, and, yes, Muslim we hugged at the interfaith gathering.
Not one of them was any less our brother or sister before September 11 than now.
Why did it take this to bring us together?
Who knows? Who cares?
It just did.
The real question is when.
When – two weeks, two months, two years from now –
do we go back to being self-centered, bigoted, short sighted, disdainful,
and too busy to care, to help, and to pray?
Here’s an idea:
Let’s not.
Ken Bossong
© 2001 Kenneth J. Bossong