 | Top (top of this page) |
| What Happened? - Background |
| Why Am I Writing? |
| Personal Impact - How this affected me |
| Why Did This Happen? |
| Would God Endorse These Acts? |
| Expressions of Sadness |
| Resolve to Live On |
| How Can Religion Support Such Acts? |
| Expressions of Condolences |
| Rejecting the Attempt to Pass Terrorism off as Religion |
| A Word on Religion |
| Commitment to Freedom |
| The Bottom Line - The conclusion, of course |
Essay on the Events of September 11, 2001
By
Earl Langenberg
September 22, 2001
On the morning of Tuesday, September 11th, 2001, the world changed for all of us.
I awoke to start my normal routine – getting ready for work, having breakfast, and watching news and the morning talk shows on television. My eyes were still a little blurry from sleep and the first images I saw on television hardly seemed real. One of the World Trade Center towers in New York City was throwing out huge clouds of smoke near the top. I was not sure what had happened and, apparently, neither were the reporters. They were scrambling to put together some kind of coherent report about what had just happened. Nearly instantly, I was jolted out of my early morning fog and completely awake. Then, as I watched news on what appeared to be some sort of freak and terrible accident, a jet appeared in the view and crashed into the other WTC tower, exploding into flames. For moments, it seemed that everyone was stunned into absolute disbelief. This was clearly no accident now. Shortly after, rumors of several planes being hijacked floated across the airwaves and people scrambled for information – any which was available – about the unspeakable events. Near the capital of the United States, a reporter inside The Pentagon interrupted his report about the WTC towers to announce that he had been instructed to evacuate immediately and that there had been some kind of explosion in that building. That explosion turned out to be a third hijacked plane slamming into The Pentagon. Stunned and somber, I made my way to work.
Like most Americans, I followed closely the news reports as they came in throughout the day. A fourth plane that had been hijacked went down in an open field in Pennsylvania. This plane, which had made a sudden reversal of direction towards Washington, D.C. was, no doubt, intended for a prominent target, as well. Some incredibly heroic individuals, who apparently had heard of the other crashes, resolved to prevent the hijackers from completing their plan. The stories about the final moments of their lives are incredibly moving to me. These people – regular people – taking what should have been an uneventful trip for business or maybe a vacation, called their loved ones to relay the most heartfelt and passionate words and messages they could. They knew, full well, that they were not likely to survive. However, they did not shrink in fear. Instead, in the utmost demonstration of courage, they struggled for control of the plane and forced it to miss anything that would have given any satisfaction to those who perpetrated the day’s carnage.
You may ask why I retell this story. A story, though not even two weeks old yet, that has already been told hundreds of times. I suppose that I do this because an event of this magnitude brings a clarity of thought, a sense of community and a need to express feelings, that was perhaps not as urgent previously. I also want to record the intense feelings and realizations of this moment, to ensure that I never forget what happened and that I maintain my commitment to uphold my freedom.
I feel that this tragedy especially impacted me because I had just recently returned from a trade show during the last week of August in New York City, two weeks before these terrible events took place. I went to several Broadway shows, saw a few tennis matches at the US Open, braved the New York subways, walked Central Park, visited the Guggenheim, gawked at the Statue of Liberty, scoped the view at the Empire State Building and romped through Times Square. I had so much fun in New York. On August 31st, I visited the top of the World Trade Center. I spent a couple hours up there, much longer than most people usually do, I am sure. I was in awe of the spectacular view – a perspective that is extremely difficult to duplicate. Being a business traveler, I have seen the earth from high altitudes many times. Some times, upon landing, you can see people and cars enough to make out what they are, but not enough to distinguish many details. From the Trade Center, though, you could stand still and look out over the "concrete jungle", beholding an area that some ten to fifteen million people live and work in. It is an incredible sight. I could see the entire city from high above. High enough to take in the vast scale of it, yet near enough to the ground to make out the details that give it all meaning.
The tragedy that occurred to that tower ten days after my visit has changed many of my memories, though. Since that day, I have been haunted by some of the faces and places I saw at the top of the WTC – the people operating the elevators to the top, the guards roping off the escalators to the outside observation deck due to lightning on the day I visited, the clerks in the souvenir shops, the guy who showed people into a room for viewing the short film about New York, the restaurants. Many of those people were probably still in the tower when it collapsed. Any that escaped would have had to descend nearly 110 stories of stairwells in little over an hour, amongst thousands of others trying to evacuate.
As of this writing, the world does not know who was responsible for all of this. I find it extraordinarily unlikely that the people behind it were all on those airplanes. Therefore, there are probably only handfuls of people in the world who have any idea as to "Why?" A coordinated strike like that would take extensive planning and preparation, vast resources of money, knowledge about security procedures and even structural engineering, support and, likely, the encouragement of others. Much attention recently has focused upon groups of Muslim radicals who believe that Allah has called them to acts such as this. I do not know whether they are to blame or not. What I do know is that I saw images on my television that broke my heart even beyond the pain of seeing those wonderful monuments destroyed with the knowledge that few survived. Images of people running into the streets, celebrating and chanting hatred towards America. Images of Palestinian children (children!!) dancing and jumping for joy. Images of some of these Islamic radicals that we have so demonized saying that they had nothing to do with the acts of terrorism, but that they thanked God for their occurrence. Images of defiant world leaders claiming that our country may have deserved this atrocity.
Of course, this is not to disparage the majority of the images I saw. Images of British citizens sending condolences and denouncing the attack and those behind it. Images of Russian leaders doing the same. Images of some Palestinians weeping and speechless over the horror. Images of people the world over laying flowers at American embassies. Symbolic gestures that carried incredible weight, such as the playing of the American National Anthem upon the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace in England.
Despite these refreshing displays of solidarity and condolence, I am greatly troubled by the images I mentioned earlier. I have no idea what the doers of this would hope to accomplish, least of all because they have not even shown the small amount of courage it would take to step forward and state their intentions. Common sense tells me, though, that any god who delights in the death of so many of his people, regardless of how sinful they may be, is not a god at all. In all of my studies of religions, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam, a common thread runs through every single one of them. God (or YHWH or Allah) is all about drawing people toward Him rather than pushing people away or, worse yet, randomly killing them. The people who committed this evil would have us believe that their god is actually waging an undeclared war against people he created. A war consisting of surprise attacks, cowardly hiding from accountability and gloating upon the suffering of innocents who lost some of their most treasured friends and family with no explanation.
Throughout Scriptures of each of these religions, whenever God issued his judgement, it would always be predicated by numerous admonitions toward repentance and it would always be directed specifically toward the people who were in the wrong. The attacks on the World Trade Center, The Pentagon and the hijacked airplanes were made indiscriminately upon people who the hijackers must have regarded merely as incidental to their plans, if they regarded them at all, that is – a shocking and horrifying disregard for human life. In my opinion, any person who is able to rationalize that kind of belief system is a person desperately in need of extinction. They are simply too dangerous to civilized society.
There are people who feel it is glorious to destroy man’s buildings and kill people who have not even been given the standard courtesy of being served notice that they were in danger of such acts of war. I find it an indictment to their cause that these people are hiding and not stepping forward to be recognized. If this act is glorious and righteous in the eyes of God, why do these people not give glory to their god by announcing what they did "with his help"? If the leaders of these people truly believe such acts are glorious, why are the leaders still alive, while sending their disciples to do the dirty work? From my point of view, these observations alone are enough reason for all people everywhere to recognize that no god would have a part in these acts, much less condone them.
I am sad for my fellow Americans and, for that matter, people of many other nationalities, who lost their lives due to a cause that many of them are probably not even aware of and certainly not responsible for. I am sad for the world at the sight of people who would celebrate news of a disaster like this. Would these people celebrate earthquakes, floods or famines that destroy thousands of lives? I am sad for future generations that grow up in a world populated with children, like the aforementioned Palestinians, who have been taught by their parents to have an inherent hatred of people they do not even know. I am sad that these children have been indoctrinated with the belief that it is morally acceptable to kill people simply because they possess a different ethnic history. I am sad that, in order to guarantee the safety of our nation and of civilized society, we will need to hunt down and destroy the people who would commit such an atrocity and those that, by their support, enable them to carry it out. I am sad to think that our doing so will almost certainly result in some innocent bystanders there being killed. I am sad to think that it is possible for people to justify an act like this in their own mind. Everything about this is just plain sad.
However, as our President so wisely stated the other day, attacks like this can destroy our buildings and kill our people, but they can not destroy our dreams, they cannot knock down our hopes and they will not even touch the foundation of who we are as Americans. Tomorrow (September 23rd), I will board a plane bound for Dallas, Texas. A couple days later, I will fly to Kansas City, Missouri – all for visits with my business clients. When the business is concluded, I will fly back home to San Diego. The following day, I will board another plane, this one to Phoenix, Arizona – a flight that I scheduled before September 11th to visit with my mom. After the weekend, I will once again fly home. Over the next week, I will be on six flights (on the way back from Kansas City, I will make a connection in Dallas). Like many Americans, I am pretty scared to get on a plane after the events of the last week. I have heard that many people around the world are similarly scared. However, I adamantly refuse to let my fear keep me from living life. This, dear reader, is what I believe to be the core of America – the freedom we have to live our lives, so long as we do not unjustly interfere with the freedom of others to do the same. I am scared to fly. By God, I will get on that plane, though! In so doing, I will pitch in my small part to ensure that the terrorists who attacked us do not realize their goal.
How Can Religion Support Such Acts?
As with all others who have used their religion as an excuse to threaten, traumatize, bully and even kill people, throughout history, their aim is not to please God. Rather, their goal is to create an environment in which they alone have freedom and all others are subject to them. Whether it is to serve their earthly desires, enforce their code of morality or to coerce acceptance of their interpretation of how God is to be worshipped, that objective has always been the utopia of such religious fervor. I say that this is why the hijackers of those planes were not leaders, but mere "grunts" who were expended to further the agenda of their leaders. Leaders who preach that America selfishly uses people, martyrdom in a catastrophic disaster pleases God, and that "grunts" should willingly sacrifice themselves in a holy war. Oddly, the very same leaders who preach this will tend to maintain their own harems with numerous wives, they tend to live long and even somewhat prosperous lives, often surviving into old age and they never, ever put themselves anywhere near a front line where they might have even the slightest chance of sacrificing themselves for "God’s cause". I suppose that honor is reserved only for the lowly disciples. No, friends – they are rather content to send their young disciples to do all that. This, to me, looks like the most egregious example of "do as I say; not as I do" that I have ever seen. In a word, this is the face of hypocrisy.
For those who lost loved ones in these events, I mourn with you. I am touched by your loss, the heroism of passengers on the fourth hijacked plane and rescuers who charged into the smoking buildings to try to save people.
For those who have lost the stomach to fly or live their normal lives, I relate to the same feelings. As for me, though, I will fly – as much to honor those who died as to show the cowards who did this that our spirit will not be bowed easily.
Rejecting the Attempt to Pass Terrorism off as Religion
For those who think that God applauds this and similar events, I say that your god is not a supreme being at all, but is, instead, a mere idea and an outdated idea, at that. Any supreme being who created mankind could not possibly be pleased by having so much of his creation wiped out this way. Your god is an idea. An idea that god desires for only a select few to enjoy freedom while all others are subject to the whims, demands and thought processes of those few. An idea that god desires strict obedience to archaic and nonsensical laws rather than enjoying the life with which he has graced us all. To such an idea, I can only say that it makes no sense to me. If such a god did exist, he should be the object of our revulsion rather than our worship. There is not a religion that supports these acts. Such a religion would simply be a tool used by a small group of people to attempt to exert control over everyone else. It has nothing to do with God or godliness.
The fact that we are all here, that we all share this same planet, that whatever "god" there is in this world has put up with all of us this long – constitutes overwhelming evidence proclaiming that such a "god" does not and could not exist. After all, if God (or YHWH or Allah) really wanted all of those who are unfaithful to him to be punished and die, do you not think that he has, within himself, the power to accomplish this without any assistance whatsoever from you? Pity the "god" who requires the sacrifice of thousands of lives in order to ensure that his will is carried out. I submit to you that such a god is purely a farce. Such a god is a chump who is powerless without your devotion, obedience and talents to achieve his goals. It is an oxymoron to ascribe the title of "god" to such a being.
I say practice Islam, Christianity, Judaism or even Mickey Mouse-ism, if you want to. Just do not force me to practice it. If I choose to practice it, do not demand that I practice it according to your interpretation of it. If I choose not to practice it and allow you to do so, more power to all of us, I say! The same is true with any religion or the practicing of no religion at all. This is what our country is all about.
Believe it or not, this is how Judaism, Christianity and Islam became the "great faiths" of the world and how they have survived for so long. Judaism, Christianity and Islam – the "nations of Abraham", so to speak – all have their pockets of dissenting opinions now, as they have for many centuries. The extent to which these "pockets" can tolerate one another and air their dialogue directly correlates to the peace and prosperity the world as a whole experiences. Whenever one group has attempted to thrust its opinion on all others, the result has always been an incredible loss of life. This can hardly be a coincidence if there truly is a God in control out there.
I will fly tomorrow. I will fly throughout the week. I will fly next month, and so on. I will be more scared than normal, but I will also be more resolute. Patrick Henry, a great American patriot, once said, "Give me liberty or give me death. " I had heard that phrase many, many times growing up, but I do not think its meaning fully came through to me until just a couple weeks ago. I love my country. Moreover, I love the environment my country fosters. I love having the freedom to live my life. I love the fact that I can do so without having others force me to think or act their way, so long as I allow all those around me the same freedom.
Having the freedom to live our lives as we wish, so long as we do not unjustly deprive others of the same freedom. This is what makes America so wonderful. This is what ensures that we will survive this tragedy. This is what places the foundation of America beyond the reach of acts of war or terror. This is why I love America and what it stands for. This is why I will refuse to submit to my fears. This is why I will continue to live my life.
Thank you for reading. If you have comments, please write me.