The anniversary of 9/11 has just gone by this week-end with very little mention – at least in Britain! The U.S.A.’s most famous opera singer made mention of it publically in between her songs at the last night of the Proms (which was the actual anniversary date) but it received a muted response.
Of course, in life we need to move on and get over things, bad things especially. But there are some things that really need to be remembered, and 9/11 is one of them. The primary reason for that is that it came with a massive prophetic edge (whatever your definition of the prophetic may be). Right at the beginning of the new century it seemed like a great sign post, a great pointer to the future, a warning sign.
Thinking of the event in retrospect, and retrospective thinking is generally more valuable than immediate response thinking, a particular pattern or interpretation has been in my mind. It comes from the fact that in what was a three-pronged attack the twin towers were completely destroyed, the Pentagon was partially destroyed and the White House escaped.
The twin towers were the epitome of the financial/business world; floor after floor was involved in wheeling and dealing. It was a world in which greed and profit were the motivators. Then the unthinkable, the unimaginable happened – both towers completely collapsed. Such a total catastrophe beggared belief. It is the totality of the collapse that needs to be remembered. When we see what has happened to the financial world in the nine years that have elapsed since 9/11 the startling prophetic nature of the event itself becomes starker than ever. For the financial world has almost hit ground zero; one more collapse and it will. It’s as though the towers symbolised the reality, and the reality itself has now virtually collapsed, propped up in a very shaky and uncertain manner. Many fear a ground zero scenario.
On 9/11 the Pentagon, the symbol and seat of U.S. military power, took a severe knock. Once again the last nine years have seen a further playing out of that event; the American military has taken a severe and very expensive knock in its exploits in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was 9/11 that drew the might of the U.S. unwisely into those wars, exposed the severe limitations of “overwhelming power”, and gave a severe dent to overweening pride.
But the White House escaped. I am not sure what that really points to. However, I must admit that it makes me breathe a sigh of relief; some real political horror was not permitted to happen. I can only hope that if the White House is the symbol of a political system based on freedom and the rule of law then somehow in the years that lie ahead this huge (if imperfect) blessing we have of a free society may be allowed to continue.
We remain totally at the mercy of God. He is knocking very severely at the doors of our western society.
Bob
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