nmah5693.xml

nmah5693.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-09-10

I was preaching at our Presbytery's quarterly meeting, "ironically" I preached on meeting diversity with love and understanding. At the conclusion of the service we were informed of the first crash. Needless to say, we adojourned to return home to our churches to open them up to our communities for prayer and for comfort. Many of us first collected our children. It was important to hold them close not knowing what might happen in the hours to come. Terrorism was not new to me as I have lived overseas where bombs had been a constant worry and threat. Yet, I never dreamed it would occur "at home" in such a dramatic way. My husband is a former New Yorker and we are both Red Cross disaster workers. We felt helpless sitting in Tennessee wanting to be there to help.

We are more aware of the dangers which face us. We are trying to be better prepared for the unexpected - disasters of any kind - natural or human caused. We are reminded that it is important to tell your loved ones that you LOVE THEM for none of us knows what the next day will hold. I hold on to my children a little tighter and seem to be more reluctant to have them away from me for long periods. We have even worked on a disaster plan for when we are separated.

Let us remember not the hate which caused the events. Let us remember how everyone came together to help, to nourish, to care. That we might become a kinder and gentler nation realizing that life is too precious to harbor hate.

Yes. The flag represents how we can come together as a diverse people united under the freedom set out by the founding members of our country. I hope we can remember that it does not need to be used to claim we are any better than others in the world but that we can claim we can rise above the ashes of hate and warmongering and show the world that we are better than hate.