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Writings of David Chadwell This morning it is 9/11. Five years ago today,
the World Trade Center Towers were reduced to ash and too many families
experienced the agony of grief. Many people who woke up to enter “normal
routines” that morning no longer physically lived by sunset. The lives of many
were forever altered that day.
I suspect most, if not all of us adults, clearly remember where we were that
morning as those events unfolded. I am sure that many of us easily remember the
shock and amazement of that day. After all, we are the benevolent, kind-hearted
good guys—how could anyone, anywhere hate us that much? What did any of those
people do to deserve a horrific end? How could anyone think those families
deserved such horrible suffering?
We were suddenly and horribly introduced to some harsh realities about the views
of some people toward Americans. (May I quickly add not everyone hates us! We
need to constantly remember that! It is just as unjust to stereotype others as
it is for others to stereotype us!) Yet, we must ask, “Why do some find it easy
to hate us?”
1. People who have nothing, who live in unimaginable poverty without any hope of
escaping it, often resent us for having so much.
Perhaps that day what naivety remained in the American people became a fearful
skepticism. There was a time when we as a people were more likely to think good
of others rather than bad. No longer. Now naïve innocence has transformed into a
hardened cynicism. Instead of thinking the best of people as our first thought,
we too commonly think the worst of people as our first thought.
2. People who have little opportunity often resent the too common American
mindset that thinks the rest of the world exists to support the American
lifestyle.
3. Many people do not like the moral values of our culture, and see American
values as a threat to their values. (Do we not fear some of those values?)
4. Often other people’s perception of Americans is shaped more by movie exploits
and TV images than real life in this nation.
In this tragedy there is also enormous opportunity. If ever there was a time
when we could demonstrate the beauty of Christian peace in God’s family, now is
the time. However, we must understand the importance of living at peace among
ourselves before we can project the image of peace to a fragmented world. That
requires both courage and understanding. Is not faith in Jesus Christ the
essence of courage and understanding? The issue is quite personal for all of us:
“Do I seek that courage and understanding?”
Link to other
Writings of David Chadwell
