Musing on the Twin Towers

Sometimes I feel that we torture ourselves by what we allow into our heads.

But, there are times that even though whatever we are reading, watching, or otherwise contemplating is a valuable exercise in coming to terms with the difficult so that we can refine our thinking, our opinions or our reactions to events or circumstances in the future.

Let me explain by an example from tonight.

Julie and I watched a documentary type show on Amazon video. I believe that it was called, “The Falling Man.”

The program focused on the events of 9/11 and more specifically, the poor souls that chose to jump from the Twin Towers over burning to death instead.

The show centered itself around the pictures of one man who’s jump was captured by a photo journalist and subsequently published worldwide in many newspapers.

One interview was with a woman who was contacted via phone just after one of the towers was hit by a plane. The call came from her husband who was trapped along with several other people in a conference room.

I found it unbearable at one moment as this woman described the changing emotions she went through as she talked with her husband and suddenly realized that he was essentially calling to say goodbye.

When she lost it and began sobbing, I too was brought to tears.

This is a scar for her that will ultimately never fully heal here on Earth.

And, isn’t that the way of things?

Try as we might, in our human frailty, though we may find the pain softened somewhat over the years, it never fully disappears from our memory. And, often there are triggers that will bring that old pain boiling right back to the surface of our hearts and we live that pain again.

We can forgive, but often not forget. We can develop scars, but they can be reopened. We can choose to remember the good times, but sometimes the bad memories flood back in to temporarily overwhelm us.

But the point I am trying to make is this: Sometimes we must remember the bad, so that we can better appreciate the good.

Sometimes we must face the ugliness in history, both personal and corporate, so that we can rekindle the fire to somehow avoid making the same mistakes in the future.

To take the lessons of our history and view them at all angles is to avoid the insanity of doing the same things over and over again, expecting in all ridiculousness that they will turn out differently.

Isn’t this in all fairness why we should never revise history and its written record?!

This is why I love the Bible and the scriptures. God did not revise the history of the Jewish people as He gave it to those who wrote it down for us. All the good, bad and ugly is still there. The family tree of Jesus reveals that He had some pretty colorful characters in the lineup of His ancestors.

And yet, God used people, warts and all to further His purposes to save us from ourselves.

He loved us (loves us) right where we were (where we are) and saved us while we were still wallowing in our sin.

Had God revised history and swept the truth under history’s rug, then we would have no reason or understanding that God could take our broken lives and make something good out of them despite us and our failings.

So, in the end, I am thankful for God for not candy coating our spiritual legacy and past.

But the lesson I take in the here and now with our current human history, away from the Bible, is this:

We must preserve the truth of our past no matter how distasteful and ugly it may appear, so that we can understand the depths of our failures as well as the heroism of those who rose above their challenges at the time.

Just something to ponder.

Sincerely,

Mike Meehan

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