Last night, Amy and I watched a 9/11 documentary on the History Channel. It showed events at the World Trade Center from the perspectives of multiple New Yorkers who were filming the attack. While it was horrific to watch all the death and destruction again, we sat there transfixed to the TV. It’s important to grasp the depth of evil, horror and pain that day caused. Because if you don’t understand it, you don’t have an appreciation for what happened next.
Out of great evil and pain came incredible heroism.
As most were running away from burning towers (for good reason), a group of brave souls were running toward the them. First responders — firemen, police, paramedics, clergy — were thinking of something bigger than themselves as they started the long climb up the stairs of the towers.
Then all Hell broke loose. The towers collapsed. Of the 2,977 victims killed in the September 11 attacks, 412 were emergency workers.
But that didn’t stop even more first responders from continuing to run towards the rubble in hopes of finding survivors — even in light of a new danger. When the towers collapsed, the air was filled with toxic dust. According to a Sept 11, 2019 CBS News article, it is estimated that 400,000 people (not all first responders) were exposed to the toxins released into the air. Since then, more than 2,000 have died of 9/11-related illnesses.
The darkness and fear of September 11, 2001 blanketed us like the poisonous ash falling from the sky.
Yet out of the darkness, rays of light began to appear.
Story after story emerged about heroes who had sacrificed themselves to help others. Other stories of good began to surface. Americans, in shock, gathered together in prayer, held candle-light vigils for the victims — even Congress joined together in a rare moment of bipartisanship when they sang “God Bless America” on the Capital steps. We raised money for 9/11 charities, thanked a policeman or fireman (now that we realized they’d run into a disaster to save us), flew flags because of what they stood for and got to know our neighbors better. From the ashes of Hell bloomed a beautiful flower. We briefly woke up from our selfish slumber and thought of someone and something bigger than ourselves. The sheer terror of that day led to glimpses of what makes us legitimately great — we stared down Hell with love.
We woke up September 12th to a changed world.
It hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows. As we watched the rest of the documentary, I thought about the nearly two decades since. The saying “United We Stand” and “Let’s Roll” seem almost like they belongs in a museum. Wars, more attacks, the Great Recession — Hate and fear have crept up again. We are a divided nation and so many have slinked into the comfort zone of tribes. People in power use our fears to their advantage. I have hope, though. When pushed into a corner, our goodness comes out. We saw it in the days after September 11th. We saw it after Hurricane Katrina. When things get bad, we get good.
United we stood.
As I plodded off to bed after a rough day, that gave me a little bit of hope.