September 17, 2001

 

Attack on America

written by
Lynn Trenning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more about Lynn Trenning, please visit her main page.

aired on WFAE, September 21, 2001

As I walked to my house of worship on the Day of National Remembrance, two cars honked at each other at an intersection. Last week I barely would have noticed. Now it seems obscene. It is a luxury to be impatient at a red light. And after contemplating the horrible loss of life, and the economic and physical destruction broadcast day and night, I think of how many luxuries we have to lose.

The physical ones of the least of them. Charlotte is full of hard working people who have many material goods. But fond as we are of our cars and our houses and our designer clothes, there are things we will miss more if they are taken from us. The luxury of security is already gone. The luxury of arriving an hour before a cross-country flight disappeared on September 11th. The luxury of open borders, freedom of speech, and dissenting political views are likely to be next.

Last week Christians had the luxury to debate whether the doctrine of "turn the other cheek" should overrule "an eye for an eye" without having to apply one answer or the other. Last week Muslims with Arabic features could pass through airport security without being suspected of complicity in a terrorist crime. Last week the conflict between Arabs and Jews was primarily fought in the Middle East. Americans had the luxury of an ocean between us and them.

I honestly do not know what to fear or expect today or next week, and I see this sentiment reflected in Charlotte every day. As a generous community, Charlotteans are exhibiting the frustration of not knowing what to give, and to whom to give it. This is evidenced by an overabundance of people willing to give blood. The Observer reports that children who set up a lemonade stand fundraiser for the Red Cross raised $1000 in a day. I think a lot of us would write a blank check if it could buy back what we lost on September 11th.

Those of us too young to remember Viet Nam do not know what to expect from a full fledged war. Our economy is based on the consumer confidence of myself and my peers. Yet it hardly seems morally right to continue to live a life of hedonism when the sons and daughters of our country are being readied for armed combat.

But living in North Carolina brings me these comforts. We have a state rich in resources, from her people to her manufacturing plants. We have rolling green farms capable of growing the grain needed to feed millions. We have mountains rich with forests, and access to the ocean. And we are full of North Carolinians, both native and transplants, who have proven their generosity to one another time and time again.

~ Lynn Trenning

[ArtSavant link]
© 2000 - 2001 ArtSavant - enquiries to info@artsavant.com