Sept. 12, 2021, column in the Amarillo Globe-News:
Twenty years later, America needs renewal, guidance, more than ever
By Mike Haynes
I don’t
remember any specifics about Sept. 12, 2001. I do know that, like most
Americans, I was unsettled and probably even scared like I had been as an
11-year-old during the Cuban missile crisis or the next year when President
Kennedy was killed.
I had been in
bed the morning of Sept. 11 when I heard about the World Trade Center. When
Kathy called me from work, I was recuperating from heart bypass surgery that had
kept me from beginning the semester as an Amarillo College instructor. I think she
called after the plane hit the first tower.
Stuck in our
bedroom, I watched the unfolding drama of the second tower, the Pentagon, the
Pennsylvania crash and all the country’s flights being grounded. Everyone who
was old enough then remembers the uncertainty, fear and desire to do something
about the attacks.
I know I
prayed.
Because the
heinous acts had been carried out with airplanes, Sept. 12 had me anxious that
other attacks could come from above. I thought, “What if a terrorist hijacks a
crop-duster and crashes it into a local building?” When I finally made it back
to work a few weeks later, I scanned the sky and thought about where I would
run. Walking through the park from the college to my car one day, I was nervous
when I saw a small plane overhead.
Author Ben
Rhodes wrote that years later, a room in the CIA headquarters still had a sign
that read, “EVERY DAY IS SEPTEMBER 12TH.” That attitude did energize
the nation’s efforts to root out terrorism around the world and to remain
vigilant to threats. And one silver lining of Sept. 11 was the instant togetherness
it generated.
At the
National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 14, 2001, President George W.
Bush recalled President Franklin Roosevelt’s phrase, “the warm courage of
national unity.” Bush continued, “This is a unity of every faith, and every
background. It has joined together political parties in both houses of
Congress. It is evident in services of prayer and candlelight vigils, and
American flags, which are displayed in pride, and wave in defiance.”
During the same Sept. 14 service, Billy Graham said, “A tragedy like this could have torn our country apart, but instead it has united us. So for those perpetrators who took this on to tear us apart, it has worked the other way – it has backlashed. We are more united than ever before. I think this was exemplified in a very moving way when the members of our Congress stood shoulder to shoulder and sang, ‘God Bless America.’”
National
resolve even showed up in the media on Sept. 12. This newspaper’s headline
read, “America’s Day of Terror.” Others abandoned objectivity with “’None of us
will ever forget’” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer), “Outrage” (Atlanta
Constitution) and “Bastards!” (San Francisco Examiner).
Two
decades later, it’s hard to imagine Democrats and Republicans coming together
to sing anything. National unity seems a dream, and courage in the public
sphere shows more combativeness than warmth.
And although some efforts by private
groups and individuals to save people in Afghanistan may offer hints of hope, the
nation is not united.
After
Sept. 11, 2001, church attendance suddenly increased. It lasted only a few
weeks. That Sept. 14, Bush quoted a woman in New York who had said, “I prayed
to God to give us a sign that He is still here.” Bush commented, “God’s signs
are not always the ones we look for. We learn in tragedy that his purposes are
not always our own. Yet the prayers of private suffering, whether in our homes
or in this great cathedral, are known and heard and understood.
“There are prayers that help us last
through the day or endure
the night. There are prayers of friends and strangers that give us strength for
the journey. And there are prayers that yield our will to a will greater than
our own.”
Graham reminded us that collapsing
buildings, even when people are killed, are not a surprise to God, considering
this fallen world. He quoted Psalm 46:1-2: “God is our refuge and strength, an
ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give
way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.”
And the evangelist pointed out the many
crosses in the National Cathedral. “For the Christian, the cross tells us that
God understands our sin and our suffering, for He took them upon Himself in the
Person of Jesus Christ,” Graham said. “From the cross God declares, ‘I love
you. I know the heartaches and sorrows and the pain that you feel. But I love
you.’”
Graham said, “We desperately need a
spiritual renewal in this country.” Bush stressed God’s love and ended his
speech like this: “May He bless the souls of the departed. May He comfort our
own. And may He always guide our country.”
Twenty years later, America
needs that renewal and guidance more than ever.
Mike Haynes taught journalism at Amarillo College from 1991 to 2016 and has written for the Faith section since 1997.
