Remembering 9/11 ... Again

In the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, they are playing recordings from final phone conversations of passengers aboard that fateful flight as well as remembrances from some whose loved ones called from the World Trade Center even after the presiding judge had warned against such strategies lest the jury forget that there are certain "FACTS" in the case that require attention. Emotion is never a good way to judge a case, especially one like this.

I only say this because I still get emotional myself whenever I reflect on that day. The part that stands out in my mind, aside from the countless thousands of lives that were directly impacted, was the phone call I received that afternoon from my then 12-year-old daughter who had been told in school by someone that the Muslims were out to kill American children. To hear that sweet, innocent voice virtually begging for assurance that no one was specifically out to get her and try to maintain my own composure was overwhelming, to say the least. There was still anger in my soul over the events of the day, but there was also still chaos in the news with each station vying for attention to their own coverage. I am not so sure what I was feeling or thinking that day except that my daughter's innocence and sense of well-being had been violated.

I'm not so sure that rehashing such emotionally charged sentiment in a trial is a good idea because I am quite certain that all of America was feeling pretty much what I was feeling on that day. Having such recordings played and replayed can virtually shut out any sense of rational logic and fair play, especially for a "foreigner" standing trial and representing everything we hated, and still perhaps hate, about that awful day.

I do not wish to take away from those who lost their loved ones on 9/11/01. I do not wish to diminish the pain and grief they must still feel. I do wish, however, to diminish the power that evil can have when we allow our emotions to run away with us. We are, first and foremost, Christians who live by a standard of conduct that challenges us each day to be better and more Christ-like than the day before, ever striving toward spiritual perfection and seeking desperately to walk in the footsteps of the gentle One who showed us the way home.

None of this means that we are not allowed our human emotions; Jesus had such moments Himself. It means that it is ok, but it also means that we must strive to overcome those emotions and think in such a way that we could even have compassion for such as one who would have planned and participated in such a heinous act against innocent civilians. For we know, or should reasonably know, that Moussaoui may be lost - perhaps for all eternity. In this, we cannot rejoice and still claim the name "Christian".