International Peace Garden at U.S. and Canada Border

Everyone who is old enough to remember, can tell you where they were on September 11th 2001. It is a moment close to our hearts, written there as a reminder of both loss and of our vulnerability . . . How quickly and completely life can change.

Sitting next to a man, at the International Peace Garden 9/11 Remembrance  Service last week, I learned that he was asked  to go to a place, which was on a list of potential targets. He assured his mother he was safe, but he didn’t know if that was true. None of us really knew what else was going to happen. We were all waiting.

The skies were silent where I lived at the time. Except for one  plane allowed to land at our small airport, in a community of 35,000 people.  Having watched pictures of planes hitting the Twin Towers, my four year old neighbor boy, asked his mom if the plane was going to hit a building.

Years have passed. Wars have been fought. Soldiers have died and been maimed in battle. First responders from police, fire, and medics have suffered lasting physical and emotional consequences of being at ground zero. There has been, and continues to be, great suffering.

This past week we remembered again. Stories were told of those who died on 911. Stories of their essence, the joy they brought, of people they loved and were loved by. Memories of lives they lived before that tragic moment, in that terrible day.

An image by a young artist, remains with me, through these years. In the drawing the Twin Towers are burning. Above the towers is Jesus,the great comforter, gathering each person into an eternal embrace.

“Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God.
“With gentle words, tender and kind.”  Isaiah 40:1

International Peace Garden