Day 5 Essay-Quiet Dead...Unquiet Living

Anguished onlookers to Devastation


Quiet Dead Unquiet Living

We have heard the tales of the cell phone calls. The people making them were staring death in the face. “There are hijackers…The plane is going down…, “I am trapped in the building and there is no way out and I cannot force myself to jump…” My friend, or co-workers or employees are trapped up here and I shall not leave them to die alone.” That last from the head of a brokerage firm to the recipient of the call, as he stayed with a paraplegic employee that in no way could have made it down the stairs…For the most part, the callers were calm, eerily calm. Supernaturally calm. Afraid, most defiantly but a calmness that was at total odds with the circumstances. The courage that sustained them in those final moments I believe was in direct proportion to their faith and hope in God, and an inner strength that is the result of coming to grips with ones own mortality long before a situation like this occurs. I must say that I have read that in some of the photos of the falling, some of the expressions were not peaceful, others were. We can never know what was going on in the hearts of those people who were expending their last breath here in this life. That is between them and Almighty God.

There were other victims, that were serving the community that died in that service. There was a steadiness and directness in their efforts even in the chaos of the moment. Many knew that they could or would die in the service of their fellow man but they went on and did what they could. Their sacrifice gave us a new vision of heroism, of grace under pressure and strength under fire.

They are the quiet dead. The dead that in their sacrifice still speak to us of the need to understand that we have so little time on this earth and we do not know the day or the hour of our departure form this vale of tears. My favorite verse of scripture is from
Psalm 90 verse 12 which says “ so teach us to number our days that we might gain a heart of wisdom. “ The greatest wisdom is to have our life in order so that when such calamity strikes we are prepared

I would now point out a fact that most everyone over looks as they examine this tragedy. Truly the dead are not the greatest victims of 9-11. on the contrary, it is the living, the survivors and the families of the departed ones that are traumatized beyond imagining. I cannot imagine myself watching someone jump from a 80 story blown out window, or being the rescue worker finding bits and pieces of a friend or a coworker. The horror of the day has lead a number of truly courageous firemen and rescue workers into a downward spiral that ultimately led them to commit suicide. How tragic, for we all know that all that could be done was done.

For the family of a victim it’s a daily continuing grinding pain that goes on and on. You are a wife with out a husband, a parent with out a child. You are little children with out one or both of your parents and some communities lost hundreds of members. You are the city that has lost its innocence and a nation that has lost its security and peace of mind…never to recover it again

We are a world that has been forever changed. Nothing is looked at now without viewing it through the prism of the events of 9-11. Can you think of a day since that nightmare day in 2001 that you have not even fleetingly thought about it or its been brought to mind? Thanks to the wonder of television we have all seen the towers fall at least 5000 times…that too was a victimization and I think a bit over the top.

We all saw the women of the 9-11 Commission. No, not the ladies on the panel but the wives and the mothers wanting answers as to how could this have happened to us? To the greatest nation on earth the most powerful and mighty and all knowing, I think that they cant realize that it is precisely that which makes us such a choice target, and the very reason why it happened and how it was allowed to happen. I felt their pain…I truly did. Even as I believe that they were being used for political purposes, I saw the pain filled faces of the victim. They are the victims not the loved ones blown to bits. Rather, the lives blown to bits, the futures blown to bits, and the dreams that lay a dying on the pavement, on the September day that we all wish didn’t happen.

I have often been asked for a “Why”...”Why would God…?” Because I have experienced a bit of tragedy myself, I can answer the question this way…”Its not always about the victim.” Yes, do I think that God dealt with the thousands of people that died that day? Of course. Do I think that it was chance? No it was not. God knew that every person there would be there. Nothing catches Him by surprise. No I look at the events and I think about what the Bible says…

In Job we read about a man that was caught unawares by calamity and we see his response to the loss of his wealth, his livelihood, his family and his good name.

Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. And he said:
"Naked I came from my mother's womb,
And naked shall I return there.
The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the LORD."

In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.
Job 1:20-22

When stricken with loathsome sores on his body he is challenged by his wife to curse God. His reply is remarkable
But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Job 2:10

As certainly as Job was caught unawares by calamity so were all those that faced death that day .How they responded then and how we respond today is the answer to the “Why” question. For I believe with all of my heart that very often the trials that we face are NOT just about us in particular but are about everyone that comes in contact with that trial…and in this instance that means the entire world. We choose to be victims and continuing victims, or we choose to thank God for His faithfulness no matter how bad it seems at a given moment. That is victory. That is triumphing over the enemy. As the young men in the book of Daniel who were about to be thrown into a furnace so hot that the men throwing them in were killed, said to the tormentors, "We may be delivered,or not by our God, who can say? But we will not give ourselves over to the Pagan Gods. We will serve the True and Living God, and not give lip service to the enemy" By choosing to stand up for ourselves and not giving into the demands of the thugs, we are speaking out for God and His Christ.

Its not about the jumpers or the dead firemen, its about us everyone of us and how we are going to respond to this… day in and day out.