Remembering

I just spent a couple of hours reliving September 11, 2001. It seems that you can watch the real-time video of the news coverage that day. I remember the first time I watched the coverage and the feelings of despair. I remember the anger that soon filled me as we all realized that there was a sinister motive behind this tragedy.

9.11.2001 candle and ribbon

As I watched the replay of the coverage, I realized that others would be watching the rerun of this horrible tragedy. And, like me, they would be reliving those angry feelings. Should we still be reacting out of our anger?

Justice and vengeance are all too often tied together with the bonds of anger. Our actions and policies as a nation do not have to be fueled by this fresh anger to be just and honorable.

That is not to say that anger is a bad thing. It’s just a bad fuel for an already dangerous fire.

We would do well to remember. There are still plenty of people to be found and brought to justice.

Today, we are reliving a deeply emotional experience. Don’t let your emotions control your actions.

Vengeance belongs to God. If we continue to pursue the perpetrators of 9/11 with anger in our hearts, then we risk the sin of taking vengeance–a right reserved by God for himself.

Justice and honor are the debt that we owe to the men and women who lost their lives in this horrible attack upon freedom. Justice and honor are well within the rights of men and women. Indeed, they are among our responsibilities. Let us pursue them with fervor, but without the seething hatred that would corrode the righteous nature of our cause.