Remembering 9/11 and Those Who Live It Everyday

We recently commemorated September 11^th. This horrible event changed the lens in which US citizens viewed the world at large. It affected different people in different ways, but all were affected in some way.

I remember September 11, 2001 like it was yesterday. I was watching the news in disbelief as the towers fell. The horror, the helplessness, the grief. It all felt so overwhelming. For a moment, time stood still. I knew at that point life had changed forever and the world would never be the same.

That day was a defining tragedy for Americans. It changed how we travel, how we view security, and how we think about freedom. But even more, it etched a scar on our collective memory. We look back on 9/11 as a once-in-a-lifetime event that we will never forget.

And yet, as I reflect on that day, I can’t help but think of my friends in Burma who have lived through their own version of 9/11 not once, but over and over again. 

For nearly 100 years, the Karen people we work with in Burma have known little else but turmoil. Families are bombed in the night. Villages burned. Schools annihilated. Children

learn early what it means to run, to hide, to rebuild. Calling “home” a new place every few weeks is not the exception but closer to the norm.

While I felt helpless watching 9/11 unfold on TV, Karen parents feel helpless every night when they tuck their children in. They have no way of knowing if morning will arrive in peace or if the night be filled with airstrikes.

While we Americans carry the memory of a single day of terror, they live with it as a daily rhythm. I don’t share this comparison to diminish what 9/11 meant for us. It was a deep wound, a tragedy, and an act of cowardice. But it was one dark day in the history of our great nation. For the Karen, the darkness has been reality for decades. 

Think of it this way…what if the fear, chaos, and the uncertainty of 9/11 became the background noise of your entire life? What if your children grew up not remembering a time without it? That is the reality for countless families in Burma.

After 9/11, we promised we would never forget. And we shouldn’t. But remembering should also move us. Jesus told us to love our neighbor as ourselves, to care for the least of these, to be peacemakers in a world of violence.

That doesn’t always mean we can solve wars or stop bombs. But it does mean we refuse to turn away. It means we walk with those who suffer, we mourn with those who mourn, and we choose compassion when it would be easier to forget.

9/11 showed us how fragile life is, how quickly everything can change. The Karen people remind us that for many, that fragility is not a memory but a way of life. To live faithfully as Jesus calls us, we must let our remembrance turn into compassion and action…for them, and for all who long for peace.

I heard this from a colleague recently and thought it was profound because it speaks to our interconnectedness as well as our obligation to each other as believers and I will leave you with it. “Until everyone is free on this planet nobody truly is”

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” — Matthew 5:9

-Danny