From 9/11 to Hope

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1

Any of us who were present for Sept. 11, 2001 have a story of where we were when we either watched or heard the most incredible news: the United States was under attack.  In that moment, our lives changed radically and a nation long divided by politics, religion, and economic status was united in response to the senseless deaths of over two thousand nine hundred people.

As I watched the opening of the National 9/11 Memorial and the memorial service on the tenth anniversary of that tragic event, I was moved to tears by the stories of the lives so transformed by that day; the children who lost parents, the mothers who lost sons, etc.  I personally did not lose a loved one, but as a member of this nation, I mourned with those who mourned on Sunday.   Today I offer this simple poem of my thoughts and emotions as a tribute to those who lost their lives and the families who survived to go on and inspire a nation to hope again.

From 9/11 to Hope

Smoking building, falling debris;

Chaos crushing, hard to breath,

Lives were sacrificed for thee.

Confusion, terror, loss of peers

Numbness, anguish, mounting fears;

Fury for children’s mourning tears.

Mothers, fathers, daughters, sons,

Husbands, wives, beloved ones;

Love unending, forgetting none.

National mourning, the world responds,

Kings, prime ministers, vagabonds;

None untouched, all undone.

Soaring growth, memorials built,

Some still fight survivor’s guilt

But none give up; seek peace, be still.

Ten years passed, lives renewed,

Children grown, all hearts imbued

To cherished hope they cling unmoved.