Last Sunday I attended Sunday School for the first time in about 9 years. I didn't plan for that to happen on the anniversary of the attacks but had just happened to be talking to some girlfriends last Friday and this class sounded really interesting so I decided to visit the group. While we sat there we spent some time at the beginning of class sharing our memories of where we were and what we were doing when we heard the news. Some individuals spoke of friends of theirs at the time who happened to be Muslim and how it had affected them. One friend told us about a coworker of hers who was Pakistani and by happenstance had traveled back to visit family in Pakistan just before the attacks. As a result he was not able to return to America for a month because of increased security concerns. We discussed the varied methods different people used to cope with this year's anniversary. The responses ranged from one woman who avoided all reminders of that day to another who watched all the documentaries she could find because she'd been in the 6th grade at the time of the attacks and had not been as fully immersed as we were in the news coverage. This was her first time to really see some of those images that the rest of us have had burned in our memories for the last decade. I personally recorded a couple of documentaries from CNN and A&E but can tell you that as of the time I'm writing this blog I haven't watched more than 5 minutes of any of them. I guess I'd fall into the category of people who just couldn't relive that destruction. I spent that day focusing on peace and rebuilding. I'm not saying that one method is better than the other. I just know what worked for me. So Sunday morning our entire service was peace-based from sermon to hymns. In fact one of our hymns was one of my very favorite songs as a child, "Let There Be Peace on Earth". If you don't know the song, take a listen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxCOrfS_NY0
The song is absolutely beautiful both in melody and message.
Anyway, after having finished our service I went home and played with the girls for a little while. Ali knows the basics of what happened 10 years ago but has not seen any footage of the attacks themselves or their aftermath. I know that at some point she will want to see it and bought an HBO documentary 8 years ago for just such a purpose (it's called "In Memoriam" and if you're looking for a good documentary on the attacks this is it) but am hoping we get a couple more years behind us before I have to break that out of it's case, which I literally haven't opened since purchasing the video so long ago. *Goodness, that was the longest sentence I think I've ever typed!
Anyway, later that day there was an event held here in Norman which was so profound that I walked away feeling like a changed person again, having now seen the attacks and subsequent decade through the eyes of a Rabbi, an Imam and a Baptist preacher. The title of the panel was "Abrahamic Faiths Post 9/11" and it was a transformative event to have attended. I'll give you a brief overview of how it went and then get into the meat of what was said. There was an OU choir there performing songs of hope, we had representatives from each of the faiths lead us in prayer, and first responders were recognized and thanked (in the forms of the chiefs of the NFD, NPD, OUPD and EMSSTAT director).
Then there was a panel discussion. First I should acknowledge the members of the panel, as their words were what made this whole event so powerful. From NYC we had Rabbi Bradley Hirschfield, President of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership (who joked that there should be no doubt about how important it was for him to have come since he had to fly out of NYC that very morning in order to attend the event). And both from the OKC metro area we had Imam Imad Enchassi, of the Islamic Society of Greater OKC and NorthHaven Baptist Church minister, Rev. Mitch Randall. All 3 members of the panel discussed how the events of 9/11/01 impacted their lives, their faith and their religious communities, as well as our relationships with each other. Here are some bits of what we heard:
Hirschfield started by saying that there is "virtually no precedent, if any, of peace being a dominant state of being" on Earth. He later went on to acknowledge that there are violent sides to every western religion. Just take a look at our Christian old testament for an example of what he's talking about. Some of those stories give me the heebie jeebies every time I read them. He also pointed out that many misconceptions about the different religions come from incorrect translation of the original text. For example, he pointed to the commandment "Thou shalt not kill." He reminded us that the original text doesn't exactly read that way. The original commandment was "Thou shalt not murder." Some may argue that this is just semantics but in the case of murder, Hirschfield stated that the person committing the act must be willing to carry the full moral responsibility for having made that decision. It's an unfortunate fact that all to often people are killed in accidents, etc - by another person but not as the result of a deliberate intention, if that makes sense?
Enchassi joked when he first walked out that at least no one had tried to steal his identity for the last 10 years. He told us that out of evil always comes good. He also told us that on the morning of September 12, 2001 he woke up with one thought in his head: "My faith has been hijacked." I got chills when he said it. What an interesting perspective - and one that I never would have thought to put into those words but which makes sense. He said that later that morning (September 12, 2001) he drove out to his mosque with trepidation in his heart, afraid of retaliation against his mosque even though they had nothing to do with the attacks. He stopped short when he saw something shiny in front of the door to the mosque. Was it a bomb? As he walked closer he discovered that multiple people had left them an aluminum bouquet of flowers as well as chocolates and cards on the front porch, offering words of support to the members of the mosque. He was reminded of the parable of the Good Samaritan. He said that God is not a violent God and if we'd all just practice our faith in the way He intended then peace is possible. He reminded us that the 9/11 attacks happened to all of us and that when first responders were pulling people out of the rubble they surely never noticed the color of the victims' skin.
Randall told us that "peace is a journey not a destination. Sometimes we'll have to crawl, but hopefully one day we'll be able to run" with that peace. He said that he's made many good friends post-9/11, including the Imam. He said that the thing that most upsets him today is when clerics and friends of his villainize and stereotype people of other faiths. He suggested that they all should be mindful of their rhetoric.
Hirschfield gave one of the biggest money quotes of the day (in my opinion) with the following words: "How we choose to look out for people who practice other faiths is a greater test of the integrity of our own faith than how we choose to look out for people who practice with us." I'm not sure if it comes across as strongly in writing but it truly gave me goosebumps when he said it.
The last question that the moderator asked was what each of the panelists would say to the "children of 9/11". Enchassi told the audience that there actually is one of these children living in Edmond right now. His family is Muslim and his father was killed in one of the towers. This child was born on September 13, 2001. The boy's mother moved him to Oklahoma to get him away from that "children of 9/11" community and let him grow up outside of that shadow as much as possible. However, his mother did allow him to be interviewed for a CNN interview this year and the boy said something along the lines of "if there are people who are mean to me, I have to be nice to them. I don't want to be nice to them but it's what my father would have wanted me to do."
Finally, there was a ceremony where children from each of the faiths filled up a glass with sand, showing that if all 3 groups would just work together we could truly form something beautiful. Here's a picture of the table holding symbols of all 3 religions as well as the jar at the end of the ceremony.
Anyway, I know this was a really long blog and want to thank the 2 of you who stick it out to read the whole thing. Have a great day!
