During the last week I have been very aware of the tenth anniversary of 9/11. I began to remember the thoughts and feelings that I had when it happened. Like most of us who were around on that day, I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard what was happening. I was attending Southern Utah University at the time, and working at a manufacturing plant out by the airport in Cedar City. A co-worker ran into the room and said "Someone just flew an airplane into a skyscraper in New York!" I had to stay in the room working, but he brought in regular updates. All planes still in the air were required to land. I could see the Cedar City airport just across the field from the back of the plant, and I remember large passenger jets landing and sitting on the runway all day long.
When the towers fell, and it became more apparent what had happened, I remember feeling as though time had stopped. In retrospect, it was not so much that time had stopped as it was that my perspective had changed. In an instant I had gone from being a husband, father, and student without a true care in the world to being the victim of a terrible, pre-meditated attack. My entire world changed. Suddenly America was not a safe place anymore. Just google "9/11 innocence" to see how many people felt stripped of the their safety and their innocence.
I don't mean to place myself in the same category as those who were affected more directly by those events, including those who were killed, those family and friends who were left behind to mourn, the first responders, the soldiers who went overseas to protect us, and so many others who cannot be named. Nevertheless, 9/11 was an attack against America and all of it's people, and I believe that all of us felt it to some degree or another.
And while it was an attack against our people, it was more an attack against the principles of freedom that permeate who we are as Americans. So great is the light of freedom that shines from Americans, and by extension America, that we are instantly the target of all of those in the world who live by the principles of darkness, including selfishness, anger, fear, and hate. I believe in good and evil. I believe that we have a Father in Heaven who loves us. I believe we also have an enemy, even Satan, who hates us, and the light of freedom for which we stand, and will do everything he can to destroy us. Because of that, I believe that the best way to defeat him, the best way to let him know that his attack upon us failed, is to not let the negative feelings we experienced that day rule our lives. We should not allow ourselves to feel fear for what terrorists can do, but should put our trust in the greater power of God.
I remember that President Hinckley spoke in general conference just three weeks after 9/11. It is still touching to read his words, and he taught us what is really important from a gospel perspective. Here is the link:
http://lds.org/general-conference/2001/10/the-times-in-which-we-live?lang=eng
May we all always remember 9/11, and take from it renewed hope and faith, both in the innate goodness of people, in the light and freedom of America, and in the power of our Heavenly Father to heal all wounds.
