9/11/16 – the 15th anniversary of the terrorist
attack on the United States by al-Qaeda, Osama ben Laden’s Islamic extremist
group which hijacked four U.S. commercial passenger planes and flew two into
the World Trade Twin Towers in New York City.
The 3rd and 4th planes were destined for Washington
DC; one, as planned, was crashed into the Pentagon while the last was diverted
and crashed into a field in Pennsylvania when passengers charged and fought the
hijackers preventing the completion of their mission. This orchestrated event caused the death of
three thousand innocent people and injured six thousand others. Among those killed were 78 police officers
and 200 firefighters during rescue efforts.
TV cameras were at hand; live broadcasting of the events covered the
world.
Following is my journal entry on the 1st
anniversary of that event.
9/11/2002 – it was a year ago today when
the unthinkable happened—unthinkable that America could be the victim of such a
profoundly horrendous surprise attack; unthinkable that human beings could be
so callous as to perpetuate such a heinous act; unthinkable to consider the
horror that the people in the planes and buildings must have experienced;
unthinkable to realize that people round the entire planet could turn on a TV
and watch the towers crumble to the ground in real time; unthinkable to
calculate the degree of hatred that motivated such a morally depraved plan; unthinkable
to learn that the hijackers considered it an act of worship to their god.
The Bible tells us that God created man
in His image . . . a being with intelligence and reflective awareness capable
of knowing right from wrong. To this
being God gave free will—the power to choose any path in life.
How can we reconcile this in our minds?
--a segment of a religion has so perverted the image of god so
as to perceive him in terms of pure evil!
--that is contrary to the Muslim religion which, like
Christianity and Judaism perceives God as the creator of order and source of
all that is good.
--could awareness of the unthinkable horror of which humans
are capable spur us to work together to make conscious choices for the greater
good?
Animals are programmed by instinct; free will is unique to
humans. It is with that freedom we
create our personal world, but beyond that, our actions affect a wider
world. We live in a closed system within
a vast universe, all activity in a closed system effects everything within that
system. Whether God-given or the result
of random chance, we hold creative/destructive power and our actions shape the
world we occupy.
Events of the 20th and 21st Centuries
have made us aware of mankind’s destructive powers: WWI, WWII, holocausts and genocides, atomic
and hydrogen bombs, world-wide terrorism—the unthinkable has happened—that
makes it imperative that we recognize we all share a common humanity, thus a
common destiny; planet earth is one closed interacting system. The ‘unthinkable’ calls us to use our freedom
and creative powers to actively identify and embrace values that can underpin a
sustainable world.
The dream of a better world may seem impossible but consider
how far humanity has come in creating a better world thus far:
--from the beginning of time most people were
uneducated—after the invention of the printing press people gradually came to
recognize the importance of education and now, all parents seek it for their
children.
--it took until just 150 years ago for civilized society to
acknowledge the absolute need to abolish slavery—and it came to be.
--the technological advances in the 20th Century
connected all parts of the world by transportation and communications leading
to the recognition of our home planet as one global world.
--following the ‘Great War’ leaders awoke to the need for
nations to work together for their common good.
After two decades of struggle, in 1942 ‘The United Nations Declaration’
established the UN. It’s importance and
value has not yet been fully recognized because humanity’s advances are
measured in centuries, not years—long term perspective is needed.
--in 1948 the UN adopted The Universal Declaration of
Human Rights.* It has been
translated into hundreds of languages—the most translated document in the
world. It is a beginning. It identifies the values needed for a
sustainable world, fundamental values, which can be embraced by all peoples, as
they are not connected to specific religions, yet can be found among all the
world religions. It is the blue print
for that ‘better world’—which can become a reality when adopted into the
curriculum of all schools.
(* Google it)
line from a song:
“Let there be hope in the dark of the night”
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