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This is article was written during the following weeks after the tragic events of September 11, 2001. This article appeared in several publications including the Los Angeles Times, Glendale News press, The Honolulu Advertiser, and The Adventist Review.
Permission was granted by the author to re-publish the article in the Pastoral Report.
As we remember those tragic events in the history not only of our country but of humanity. I thought these words would be helpful to us today as well:
During the past several weeks, we as a nation have found ourselves in the midst of pain, suffering and grief. As we think of the people who lost their lives during the tragic events of Tuesday, Sept. 11, and as we think of their families, friends and loved ones who are grieving, we realize that in a way, we are all grieving. We are grieving our loss of peace, security and freedom.
Many of the things we took for granted before are no longer taken for granted today. On Monday, the day before the attacks, we told jokes. On Tuesday, the day of the terrorist deeds, we did not. On Monday, we thought we were secure. On Tuesday we learned better.
On Monday, we were talking about our heroes as being athletes. On Tuesday, we realized who our true heroes were. On Monday, we were irritated that our tax rebate checks had not arrived. On Tuesday, we gave money away to people we never met.
On Monday, there were people opposed to praying in schools. On Tuesday, you were hard pressed to find a school where someone was not praying. On Monday, parents argued with their kids to pick up their rooms. On Tuesday, the same people could not get home fast enough to hug their children.
On Monday, some people were upset they had to wait six minutes in a fast food drive-through line. On Tuesday, people didn’t mind waiting up to six hours to donate blood for the victims.
On Monday, there were people trying to separate each other by race, sex, color or creed. On Tuesday, they were all holding hands. On Monday, politicians were arguing about budget surpluses. On Tuesday – grief stricken – they sang “God Bless America.”
On Monday, our President traveled to Florida to teach children the importance of reading. On Tuesday, he returned to Washington to protect our children. On Monday, we had families. On Tuesday, we had orphans. On Monday, people went to work as usual. On Tuesday, they died.
Sadly, it sometimes takes a horrific event to happen before we put things in perspective – the Sept. 11 events have. How many things prior to Sept. 11 were taken for granted by many of us, including each day of our lives. Only when each moment is gone do we realized its importance. How often do we fail to recognized that life is made of moments that only come once in a lifetime. Samuel F. Pugh wrote a prayer that I believe should be part of our daily routine: “This is the beginning of a new day. God has given me this day to use as I will. I can waste it, or use it for good, but what I do today is important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it.
When tomorrow comes this day will be gone forever, leaving behind in its place something that I have traded for it. I want it to be a gain and not a loss, good and not evil, success and not failure, in order that I shall not regret the price that I have paid for it.”
May we never again take for granted the things that you and I have, may we never take for grated God’s daily gift of life, and may those things that in the past have been overlooked or forgotten now be treasured and never be forgotten.
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Dr. Roy Gaton, D. Min. serves as Director of Pastoral Care at West Kendall Baptist Hospital (Baptist Health South Florida) in Miami, FL. He is a CPSP Diplomate in Psychotherapy and can be contacted via email.
Editor's Note:
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Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at September 11, 2011 10:15 AM
