9-11-01 Turning Point in American History

We must take time on this anniversary of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, to remember the victims and the family and friends of the victims of those attack and to contemplate how it changed our lives forever here in the world.

There are turning points in history that make dramatic changes in the way the lives of people and countries function thereafter.  I will not needlessly enumerate them.  9-11 is, obviously, one of those times.  Many of us remember growing up under the constant, immediate threat of nuclear war and annihilation as the West and the Soviet Union engaged in the “peace” policies called mutual nuclear annihilation!  Looking back, that really appears insane, doesn’t it?  Yet, those were the governing policies of the time of thousands of nuclear weapons.  Amazingly, in the late 1980's early 1990's,  the Soviet Union collapsed of its own weight and discredited godless communism called Leninism and Stalism.  For the first time in several generations, those of us who lived then could breathe a sigh of relief and sleep without that subconscious fear.  We were able to live that way and deal with the post-Cold War period and the so-called peace dividend very happily.

Then, the surprising and shocking attacks of 9-11.  We all remember where we were and what we were doing when we found out.  Who would do such a thing, we asked ourselves, and why would they do it?   For days, we sat before our television sets in shock and wonder about all this. Even all air travel was grounded.  What was going on? Our whole country seemed to come to a halt. 

As we slowly recovered from the shock, we became aware that we now lived in a world where two oceans could not protect us, where the rules of traditional wars between countries no longer applied to massive paramilitary attacks, where airline travel was dramatically changed, where enemies who hated the Western World and the United States, in particular, where these enemies tried to live highly secret lives, where the names Osama and al Qaeda were new and foreign to us, and where our confidence and security was seemingly shattered beyond recovery.

These were, indeed, times that “tried men’s souls.”  Did we have the spiritual faith to help us cope and to deal with this new world?  We thought we did, but it seems, we have slipped back into old habits as time has gone by.

Remember, pray for those who suffered and died and for their families and friends, and assess your own reaction and your own faith.

Let me know what you think.

Let the light of our Lord shine upon you!

REM (Ray Makowski) Co-Founder, Director and Secretary-Treasurer