9/11

            We remember September the 11^th with a smile.  In 1992 it brought us our dear niece, Sydney Jeanne Glasgow Wong.  In 2013 it brought Mia Jackelyn Wong, Isaiah & Jeannie’s daughter.  For our household, September the 11^th has delivered extraordinary joy.  September 11^th has also brought a multitude of good tidings in days gone by.  In 1609, the explorer Henry Hudson sailed into a bay to discover what would later come to be named “Manhattan”.  In 1862, William Sydney Porter, a.k.a. “O Henry”, was born.  He is the author of that wonderful short story titled, “The Gift of The Magi”.  For baseball fans, September 11^th, 1985, was the day that Mister Hustle, Pete Rose, got his 4,192^nd base hit, breaking Ty Cobb’s long-held record.  September the 11^th has provided many good days.

            Although September the 11^th may be a happy day for some, 9/11 also calls up great heartache.  Many of us will never forget the horror of that day in 2001 - - - the collapse of the twin towers in NYC; the attack on the Pentagon; and the terrifying tragedy of United Flight 93 as it crashed into the bucolic fields of western Pennsylvania near Shanksville.  On this now infamous day we witness-ed hatefulness gone to seed:  blood-thirsty terrorists rejoicing in the deaths of three-thousand souls.  On that day we saw MAN AT HIS WORST.  But the hours and days that followed also revealed MAN AT HIS BEST - - men and women, “first-responders” and other  “ordinary citizens”, laying down their lives to help save others who were gravely injured and/or dangerously imperiled.  Before our very eyes we observed both abject wickedness and indescribable goodness.   In the midst of evil and good we are reminded that life on earth is fleeting and that the wise among us will aim to make the most of our time by seeking the ways of God (Eph.5:15-17).    

                                                                                              Terry Siverd / Cortland Church of Christ