I was in a car with Candace Riggs driving to teach my 4th grade class at Bear River Elementary. Radio on, driving in a trance with Candace drifting off to sleep to my right when the radio blasted, "One of the Twin Towers in New York City has been hit by a plane."
WHAT!?!
"I repeat, one of the twin towers in New York City has been hit by a plane."
The scene unfolded as we rushed into the school, the teachers already standing around a television.....the 2nd plane hit.
That day I drove with Jared to Preston, ID to get our marriage licence, in 4 short days we would be getting married. That night my friends threw me a bridal shower. My parents, who were serving a mission in Birmingham, Alabama got in the car and started driving.....a plane would not be bringing them home for the wedding....the honeymoon to San Diego, now became Salt Lake, the plane would not be flying to San Diego either.
That night I wrote in my journal, "What kind of world will my children have to live in? I guess I always knew that in the last days Satan would abound in the hearts of men. It may sound silly, but I never knew that Satan was so wicked. Such gross acts of evil are so far from my heart, that it makes it hard to believe that anyone else has made a place for them in theirs."
This week I was sickened to hear that the "Memorial" would be held with out any Clergy, any mention of God. Why? Mayor Bloomberg said that sometimes it is "just not appropriate."
Well then what is appropriate at a Memorial? Why would we hold a memorial, unless we wanted to provide some sort of hope for the living, how can we provide any hope without God? We can't!
I wonder if Issac Potts thought is was appropriate when he happened upon General Washington pleading with God at Valley Forge. Pleading for those who had given their lives and those who would soon have to. Pleading for success that their might be some HOPE for a future.
When Benjamin Rush sat by John Adams in the Congress and asked him if he thought America would succeed in the struggle, Adams replied, "Yes, if we fear God and repent of our sins." Was that appropriate?
There are many "GREAT" civilizations that tired to make it without God. The Greeks, the Roman Empire, Jerusalem.....But alas, their secular success of stone and mortar has crumpled to the earth and we are left to DIG up their remains and tell their tale.
I think that I can deduct the message that the Mayor is trying to send to his electors. However, it may be beneficial to figure out the message we are sending to God. Let us not forget that how ever-present and all consuming the "electors" are in our lives, there is Someone else who dwells in the public square. In fact, He loaned us the square, the feet to walk there and the voice to worship or not to worship there. And one day we will stand in His presence again to account for the square, the feet, the voice.
I daresay that at that moment nothing will be blocking our view of what should have been appropriate on the 10th anniversary of September 11th.
