Religions | Thank you for your continued support of Crosswalk.com.

Dear Friend,

Thank you for your continued support of Crosswalk.com. We are glad you subscribe to American Minute and hope you enjoy it.

I’ve received a few emails today asking why on the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, arguably one of the darkest but most important events of American history, was there no mention of it in today’s American Minute. It’s a good question that deserves an answer.

So, why no mention of 9-11 in American Minute? Simply because emails you receive each day are passages from a history book that we are reprinting with permission from the publisher and the book predates the 9-11 attacks. The content does not belong to us and we do not have the rights to edit or change it. However, after receiving your emails we have contacted the author and the publisher to ask for an updated entry for September 11. Hopefully, when we get around to September 11, 2009, we will have an updated entry that reflects the magnitude of what this day stands for.

As I was discussing this via email with American Minute subscriber and new friend Sheryl, the conversation naturally turned to the two questions that we all seem to ask each other when we discuss events like this — where were you and what were you doing? It’s amazing how we never seem to forget the exact moment that the space shuttle Challenger blew up or the World Trade Center towers came down. These too are questions worth answering and moments worth remembering.

As a staff, most of us hadn’t yet come to work for Crosswalk.com and we were spread out around the country. But, like you, I’m sure most of us were glued to the nearest TV staring in disbelief, completely shocked at what we where seeing.

As to what were we doing, like you, I’m sure we were doing a number of things. We were praying that somehow this wasn’t really happening. Crying as we watched people jumping from the top of buildings and trying to figure out how in the world we were going to explain what was happening to our kids. Gasping as we watched towers fall and then dealing with the strange numbness as the realization that life and our world had just violently changed forever. We were doing and thinking a lot of things we never imagined we would be doing.

What have we been doing since then? Well, like I’m sure you have, we’ve been dealing with what I hope will be the darkest moment in life any of us will have to face or remember. Our offices are here in Virginia and we have special license plates that memorialize the attacks both in New York and Virginia at the Pentagon. Personally, when I see one of these license plates on the way home from work or running to the store, I still find myself thinking about what happened and trying to make sense of a lingering combination of profound sadness and anger.

I don’t think about it as much anymore, but still more often than I wish I had to. For me, the image that is absolutely burned in my mind and I see every time I remember– even now as I write this it brings tears to my eyes — isn’t the image of planes hitting the towers or of the towers crashing to the ground or any of the other shocking pictures and video of that day. For me, it’s the picture of the man and woman in business attire jumping from one of the top floors and holding hands on the way down. In a way, I don’t think any image better captures the hopelessness of that day or shows how truly personal and terrible it was.

I know this is a lot more information that you asked for or probably wanted, but I share it with you for two reasons. First, I want you to know that the omission of 9-11 from today’s American Minute wasn’t an intentional decision made because we are somehow callous to the situation. The second reason I share this is that most of us still carry a considerable amount of pain and talking about it with someone else, even if it’s by email with a complete stranger, is necessary on a day like today. For some reason, it’s good to know that other people are thinking and feeling the same thing.

I’d like to encourage you to read the following articles from our website. In remembering September 11, they touched me and I hope they will do the same for you.

Learning to Value Each Day: A 9-11 Reflection
Meghan Kleppinger
http://www.crosswalkmail.com/zwpsntan_igegfdgbka.html

Towered by Faith: A 9/11 Retrospective
Eva Marie Everson
http://www.crosswalkmail.com/wqwfepqg_igegfdgbka.html

Remembering 2,998 people,

Chad Nykamp
Crosswalk.com

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