Like everyone else in America, I can remember exactly where I was when the attacks on the Twin Towers occurred on September 11, 2001. I had just finished with one of my M.A.B.S. classes at NBBC and was walking back into the office to see my wife and spend some time studying. The television was tuned into one of the 24 hour new stations, probably CNN, and I walked in just long enough to read the byline and see the smoking Tower, as the second plane slammed into it’s target.
Like everyone else, I was glued to the television, watching the reports flood in. The Pentagon was hit. There was a plane in a field. There were phone calls to love ones from people trapped in the buildings. The Towers collapsing into a wall of debris, smoke, and dust that ran down the streets of N.Y.C. like water through its banks.
We all stood around together watching…dumbfounded.
It was the Pearl Harbor of my generation. A defining moment in the United States of America’s history that has changed the landscape of the lives of all the citizens of this nation. .
That night, Coach Dave Herron and I, after calling to make sure the games weren’t cancelled, traveled to a high school, in a town I don’t remember, to officiate a volleyball game that I don’t remember who won. What I do remember was the somber attitudes and faces of the people in the people in the stands.
Next to the banners that said “God Bless America” on the walls, were people in the stands who openly wept when the National Anthem was played. Everyone stood with their eyes on the flag and their hand over their heart. Every hat was off in the building and for the one young man who forgot, there were those near him that quickly reminded him of his transgression.
Now, flash forward a year later and I am back officiating volleyball, but this time it is different. Things are back to normal.
Kids are talking during the National Anthem and few, if any, hats have been removed from the heads of the men in the stands. While I don’t expect people to be crying, it would have been nice to see a few people sing along or at least pretend that they were paying attention. Now, as disappointing as it was to see the stark contrast in one year to another…I understand, because I seem to do the same almost every day.
Well, maybe not the same, but I often finding myself forgetting to living in a manner that reflects the defining moments in my life.
I forget about the God I serve and the sacrifice of His Son on the Cross. I forget to love others unconditionally like He loves me. I find myself becoming selfish and my vision becoming muddied by the things of this world, rather than seeking to touch the lives of the people that populate it.
I sometimes forget the promises that I made when I stood before a church full of people eleven years ago and vowed “to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part”. Do I love my wife? With all my heart. Do I always live and act in a manner that shows it? Not always.
Emma and I had a conversation that I posted on my blog about Veteran’s day some time ago. I wanted her to understand why we were doing some of the activities that we were and the fact that they weren’t just about having food at a banquet and giving gifts to veterans, but instead that it was about honoring those who have given their lives for us by living out daily the principles and freedoms they fought and died for.
I also have a goal that someday she will look back on the life of her father and, hopefully, remember that he lived out what he said he believed about his God, county, community, and family.
And I hope I never forget that.
