Did you watch any of the
9/11 anniversary memorials, Sunday? I watched as much as I could handle: little
children reading off names of the fathers they’d never met, men and women
crying unashamedly as they spoke the names of the loved ones they lost that
horrible day. It was even heartbreaking to see the black holes of the
reflecting pools marking the places where the twin towers once stood.
On one program, a
commentator interviewed a reporter at who had been at Ground Zero the days following the attack. As she reported, she found herself surrounded by people
who wanted to show photographs of their missing loved ones. She knew these
people couldn’t have survived the collapse of the towers, but she couldn’t bear
to tell their survivors the horrible news. Yet she still did her job, though sometimes through tears and
with a quivering lip.
Although 9/11 affected all
of us in so many ways, disaster sometimes hits close to home. We used to say
that death comes in threes in our little town (one square mile, population 400) until one eighteen month period when we lost five citizens: two to suicide,
one to homicide, one to a motorcycle accident and one to illness. The oldest
was my husband’s best friend who was shot when his gas station was robbed. The
youngest was my three-year old godson who had the sniffles Saturday night and
died Monday morning. It was a devastating time.
It’s hard to continue on
when the world goes crazy. It’s even harder to be creative during stressful
times. Artwork, words, music – all seem to flow when our life is easy and times
are good. But, that doesn’t mean that we can’t create our best work when life is at its worst.
Listen to the poignant words of Eva Marie Everson, Christian speaker and author, as she wrote in her journal of 9.11.01:
"Everywhere we went, the words were the same. Everyone we saw, the expression was the same. Rich man in a suit speaking into a cell phone. Poor man resting on a curb. The conversation was the same. Jew and Gentile, Christian and Muslim. It was all the same. Before our eyes were downcast, we saw what we saw. Before our ears were deafened, we heard what we heard. Before our hearts were broken, we face what we now know. We are a part of history. We are at war."(For more on healing and grief, check out Eva Marie's blog, 1 Writer, 1 Day.)
Another national tragedy, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, sent everyone reeling. Yet months after her husband was killed, Jacqueline Kennedy recorded interviews and recollections of her married life. (The transcripts from these tapes have been put into book form and are being released this month.) Can you imagine doing this after watching your husband die beside you? Yet, somehow, Jacqueline found the inner strength to make those recordings for her family and for history.
And of course, our best
example of inspiration comes from the Bible. When the Philistines seized David,
I’m sure they didn’t realize they’d inspired a psalm that would provide comfort for thousands of years. At the beginning of Psalm 56, verses 2 & 3
it says
“I am constantly hounded by those who slander me, and many are boldly attacking me. But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.”1Later in verse 8, we’re reminded,
“You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.”2
It’s hard to go on when
tragedy strikes. It’s hard to push ourselves to write when we don’t feel like
it. But we have to remind ourselves just Who is in control. We have to remember
why we were put here on this earth. If we were put here to write, then we won’t
find any peace at all until we do just that.
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1 Tyndale House Publishers Inc (2004-01-09). The One
Year Bible, New Living Translation (One Year Bible: New Living Translation-2) (Kindle
Locations 33228-33229). Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. Kindle Edition.
2 Ibid
