The September 11 terrorist attacks that left nearly 3,000 people dead left an indelible mark on all of us who remember it. Many still mourn the tragic loss of loved ones, and many first responders and others who were near the towers still deal with health issues.
Those of us who were not in the vicinity of the attacks return every year to “where were you then?” conversations. We recall the shock, confusion, and fear. We recall, too, the staunch courage of those who waded into that horror to save lives.
But now 25 years have passed. Millions of adults in the United States who hear the stories and witness the memorials have no recollection of the event itself. They were too young at the time, or not born yet. Nevertheless, they’ve grown up in a world that was also indelibly marked not only by the violence and horror of that day, but by our nation’s choices of how to respond to it. We may not have realized it, but we were given a choice, then, about who we were going to be as a nation. Current conditions in the United States have a lot to do with how we responded to that moment.
One of many memorable images from that day is a picture of Franciscan Father Mychal Judge, who served as a chaplain to the New York Fire Department and who became the first official fatality of the attacks when falling debris struck and killed him as he was ministering to the injured. The photograph, taken by Reuters photographer Shannon Stapleton, shows a group of rescuers carrying Judge’s lifeless body from the wreckage. Reminiscent of a pietà, his body slumps limply in the arms of the responders who carry him. His clothing is dusted with ash, a shocking memento mori.
After the first tower fell, and the firefighters rushed in to save people, Judge was with them. He stayed with them and with other wounded and dying people.
Judge’s witness stands as a testimony to the best that our nation and our church can be, the best that humanity can be. He was one of the “helpers” we are instructed to look to, as per Fred Rogers’ famous quotation about how to help kids deal with terrifying events: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping,” Rogers wrote in Mister Rogers Talks With Parents (Berkley Books), a book he coauthored with Barry Head in 1983.
In the aftermath of 9/11, it was an idea that gave comfort.
Judge, we learned after his death, was gay. And as well as ministering to the NYFD, he also cared for people suffering from AIDS in New York City. Some LGBTQ+ Catholic groups are advocating for his canonization, but no official cause has been put forth. Meanwhile, our nation’s current government is creating laws that harm LGBTQ+ people and remove their legal protections.
People like to talk about how the nation came together after the 9/11 attacks. But it wasn’t a time of unity for everyone. Many Muslim Americans have spoken and written about how they were harassed and physically attacked by people who assumed that anyone who was Muslim, or even “looked Muslim,” must have shared responsibility for the attacks. Antisemitism saw an uptick after the attacks, too, as conspiracy theories blaming Jewish people for the attacks spread. If there was a circle of care, not everyone was invited.
We had a choice about who we were going to be, following the violence of 9/11. Were we going to choose the hijackers’ pageant of hatred and annihilation? Or were we going to choose the path of peace and healing, even if it led to danger, as Judge did?
The terrorist attacks gave various cynical and amoral leaders the motivation they needed to carry out unjust wars across the globe. It gave people an excuse for bigotry and cowardice. Hatred and suspicion have proliferated, to the point that people now mock the suffering of innocent immigrant children and resent any pittance of tax revenue being used to help their less fortunate neighbors.
The two choices that radiated out from that day mirror the options that have always existed for America since our founding: Would we truly live out “liberty and justice for all” or would we say the words while choosing to bind and oppress? Our nation, like all of humanity, appears to be locked in a struggle between our finest impulses and our most degrading. Sometimes it seems we have harmed ourselves and our moral center more deeply than the terrorists who attacked us could have done on their own.
In recent years, the popularity of that Mister Rogers quotation about “looking to the helpers” has received some critique. The directive is supposed to be for kids, not for adults. Adults should look to the helpers, yes, but it shouldn’t stop there. We should do as Father Mychal Judge did and not only look to them but help them. Carry on their work.
Today, amidst the violence and injustice that is rampant in our nation, those helpers still exist, binding up wounds, denouncing injustice, confronting ignorance with wisdom, opposing violence with peace work. When we remember 9/11 we should do more than just reflect. We should be spurred on to act.
Image: Unsplash, 9/11 Memorial in New York City
