In the Aftermath
On Wednesday, September 19th, you couldn’t get into a blood bank in Austin, Texas. I am sure it was much the same around America. The response by Americans to Tuesday’s disaster was immediate and overwhelming.
Lines of volunteers began forming, waiting for an opportunity to help search through the rubble for survivors. Five days later those lines were still there and growing. People came from as far away as Oklahoma to help in the rescue effort. Volunteers had to be turned away.
People came to the armory to register missing person’s reports and ended up staying to help those who wandered in dazed and confused. In the midst of their grief, relatives of victims found compassion and concern for fellow citizens trapped in the same nightmare.
By Friday, news reports begged people to stop sending food. Nine warehouses were filled to capacity and the system couldn’t handle any more donations. New York City was being overwhelmed by compassion. President Bush asked for $20 billion and Congress gave him $40 billion.
There is something about tragedy that brings out human character. I don’t think it changes what is inside people, it just brings it to the surface. I’ve started off this article with the good, for I do believe Philippians 2:3-4 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
The good that has been done should be reported and hopefully it will glorify God. It is sadly true also that "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" Jeremiah 17:9
As reported at MSNBC.com;
Sept. 18 — Despite a sharp condemnation from President Bush of attacks on law-abiding American Muslims, authorities across the nation have reported several backlash assaults in the wake of last week’s terrorist attacks. In Arizona, Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley said Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh, was shot and killed outside his gas station Saturday "for no other apparent reason than that he was dark-skinned and wore a turban."
Sodhi’s alleged attacker, Frank Silva Roque, 42, was charged Monday with first-degree murder. "I’m an American. Arrest me. Let those terrorists run wild," Roque was quoted as saying in a police report.
I honestly believe that Roque already had hatred and bitterness in his heart and the disaster on Tuesday became an excuse for it to surface and overcome sound judgment.
We saw on television a blonde woman screaming at the top of her lugs for Arab American’s to "Go back where you belong!" White supremacist groups have voiced that chant for years across America. It’s nothing new.
There is the usual finger pointing and jabs This was reported at CBSnews.com;
Specifically, Falwell pointed to "the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians...the ACLU, the People for the American Way" and other "Christ-haters."
"The ACLU's got to take a lot of the blame for this," said Falwell
"All of them who have tried to secularize America, I point the finger in their face and say, "You helped this happen,'" Falwell said.
Falwell’s response included, from his WebPages:
I sincerely regret that comments I made during a theological discussion on a Christian television program were taken out of their context and reported, and that my thoughts - reduced to sound bites - have detracted from the spirit of this time of mourning.
Well Jerry, if you hadn’t said it, they couldn’t have "reduced to sound bites" what was obviously an issue of the heart. Sure the liberal media picks at Falwell, he’s an easy target. Nothing new here either. The WTC disaster just became an excuse to vent opinions again, Falwell’s fear and CBS’s secular humanism. Nothing changed here.
Events such as this terrorist attack have many side issues. The failing economy took another blow on the chin. Thieves robbed unguarded apartments in lower Manhattan. Men posing as rescue workers stole thousands of dollars in merchandise from the wreckage. Ten tons of gold lays in an underground vault somewhere under all that rubble, and you know someone is wondering if he can steal it, or parts of it least. American flags were stolen off lawns in front of patriotic homes, probably to be sold for profit. Insurance companies have waived proof of death in this disaster. I can predict someone putting in a claim for life insurance benefits when they aren’t really dead or missing.
These are two extremes. People have the capacity for good and evil, but what about the middle ground? What has this done to you? Beyond the emotional tug, has it exposed your true heart nature? That doesn’t have to be something heroic or sinister. It can be simply human. In my case the Lord showed me that I wasn’t showing the proper gratitude towards my co-workers. I responded to that by publishing this letter to them.
There has been a lot said about last week. Millions of Americans have been touched by the events of the week. Some things get overlooked in the shadow of tragedy but then something happens to bring that to light.
Last Friday my wife's cousin died after open-heart surgery. As she cried I thought, "If she was so close to this man, why hadn't I met him?" Why wasn't he part of our regular life, keeping closer contact?
Then when I got to work Monday I learned one of our co-workers died last Thursday after having heart problems.
It really got me to thinking about how I have divided my time and the truth hit me.
I spend more time with my co-workers than I do my own close family. I am out here 10 hours a day four days a week. I get to see my wife perhaps 4 or 5 hours a day before I go to sleep. I see my kids even less. I manage to tell them I love them and do things to show I care in that short time.
I know we don't interact all day long, but you are there, in the halls and meeting places, at your workstations, perhaps at the cafeteria. We exchange pleasantries, talk about common interests, talk about problems, even had a few problems with each other just like real family.
My point here is this; I have neglected you my work family, in that I haven't told you how lucky I feel to be able to call you friends. Each of you has touched my life here at work. If something should happen to any one of you before I got a chance to see you again, I'd feel saddened that I didn't have one last opportunity to say hello or good-bye and say it is a privilege to call you friend.
I pray that nothing bad will happen to any of us. I hope we continue to touch each other’s lives daily. The sad reality is that tomorrow is promised to no one. We cannot predict what may come and if we could, what could we do to change it? I don't know. But I do know that I'll feel better having remembered to tell my friends how lucky I am they are a part of my life.
God bless America, God bless you all.
Larry
Pondering my own words this week it hit me. What could I do to change it? My attitude changed, my heart changed, what I say and how I treat people has changed. In reality the only thing we can do about tragedy is react to it, for good, for evil or for change.
Philippians 3:10-11 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
For it seems that suffering is part of conformance. If we are to become like Christ, we must have His heart. If we are to have His heart then all that is evil within us must be exposed to the light and cleansed.
John 3:19-21 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
It is my hope, my prayer, that during these times people not only seek God but also respond to Him. Prayer in itself is good, but what you pray for is more important. To pray for others is good, but to pray that God would change you is even greater. We should not become comfortable with the way things are now. We should be looking for change, not just in the world but within ourselves. We need to take sides, hopefully for good and embrace it with a burning passion. God doesn’t honor those on the fence, unsure, undecided, dispassionate.
Revelation 3:15-16 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Like President Bush said, "You are either with us or against us."