Reflections of 9/11 2011

"We've all gone crazy, mourning all day and mourning all night, falling over ourselves to get all the misery right..."--Andrew Lloyd Webber

I know that a few may misunderstand me, so don't. I am not against all the memorials, 9/11 or other. (Although the number of memorials seems to be growing exponentially). I am not against the services either, but as I watched the never ending stream of 9/11 programs on the 10th anniversary, my mind kept coming back to the words of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita "falling over ourselves to get all the misery right."


Mayor Bloomberg was the poster child for getting all the misery right. So intent was he to get it right, he excluded two of the most requisite groups from the stand: the clergy and the first responders. On 9/11 2001, it was the first responders who showed true Christ-like service as they willingly walked into the breach and risked their lives to save total strangers. While no one could have imagined that those great towers would completely collapse, the rescue workers knew that they were putting themselves at great risk just to enter a burning high rise.

Then, and second only to the first responders, were the clergy. It was the clergy who helped us find some modicum of comfort as people flocked to churches in record numbers.

But when you are trying to get "all the misery right" the clergy and the first responders represent comfort and hope so clearly do not fit the miserable agenda. After all, the bottom line for big bureaucratic politicians is to keep the electorate focused on the misery so that the big bureaucratic politician can be the salvation.

There are a lots of good reasons to have memorials and services. It is vitally important to remember the events, not just as politcal opportunities, but as events of sacrifice, of caring, of resolution, of hope, of comfort and yes, of mourning...mourning but not misery.

We need to remember also the lessons of that day: that we were vulnerable to attack, and the lessons of the days that followed: that we could stand together against a common enemey.

On 9/11 2001, nearly 3000 people perished in a heretofore unimaginable attack. On 9/11 2011, hope, comfort, and resolve may have followed them into the grave.