Every September we are reminded of the passage of time as a new school year starts and Sarah realises that the new intake won’t have been alive at key milestones in our lives. If a former generation remember where they were when we put a man on the moon or when JFK was shot, for many of us, the definitive memory was the horrific images of those planes crashing into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre. Sarah would realise that she was teaching children born after 2001.
It’s now 22 years since the 911 Terror attacks. If you have any memory of the event at all then you are likely to be in your mid 20s. Graduates now going into the workplace have no recollection of the day and it’s aftermath.
There’s a few things that arise out of that. First, I suspect it means that if you weren’t there and don’t recall, then it is much harder to understand the impact of the event and therefore to appreciate why people, government and leaders responded as they did. It may also make it harder to understand political and legal measures that are in place now which developed in response.
This is true of any event and its impact including on our families, churches, communities and nations. It also helps us understand the importance of remembering and events that help us to remember such as communion.
It also strikes me that on the one hand 911 was so significant that in many ways it still casts a shadow which reaches beyond those who were directly and immediately affected. This helps us understand the impact of history. Similarly, those moon landings, the Holocaust, Apartheid and going back further the slave trade still have shadows that reach into our societies now.
However, conversely, for many, 911 has little significance and greater threats and dangers have over taken Al Qaeda. We are less concerned about terror threats from planes and more the danger from Putin unleashing tactical nuclear weapons. Our big concerns are the economic impact of fuel and grain restrictions due to a war on Europe’s borders. At the same time the threat from climate change has increased exponentially. Psychologically, we live more in the shadow of a pandemic. Now we remember where we were when Boris announced lockdown and the Queen said “We will meet again” (an old song and phrase took on new significance). Stuck in our memories are Captain Tom and getting our vaccines. Even more up to date, we all instinctively recall where we were when the Queen died.
Shadows may lengthen but they also withdraw. These things seem huge at the time but fade into the deeper recesses of our consciences as the years pass by. What looks big close up looks infinitely small in the context of history and smaller still against the backdrop of eternity. We thought at the time that we would never recover, never get through. These things shall pass.
Through all these dangers, one thing has remained constant. God is still on his throne, he us still sovereign and the Cross has not lost its power to save.
Faithroots 