September 11th Need Not Define Us...But Refine Us
Although every year since the attacks of 9/11 have brought us through the grieving process and helped us to reach stronger levels of healing, the ceremonies at last year's tenth anniversary seemed to move us into a truly significant realm - one where we were no longer defined by the events...but refined by them. Making that critical transition is indeed a painful and difficult process, but it is one that will continue to serve us well, if we continue to embrace it. When we were horrifically betrayed in 2001, our political, economical, social, financial, and of course, relational foundations were pulled out from under us. Our lives were forever re-landscaped, and hundreds of thousands of citizens were sentenced to years of immeasurable heartache and loss. Most of us tried desperately to make sense out of something that did not make sense so that in the chaos of our confusion and in the prison walls of our powerlessness, we might be able to cling to some morsel of rationale o