“WE will never forget.”
These words are forever etched in the hearts and minds of people across the world, as we recall that fateful day when the World Trade twin towers crumbled into dust.
Twelve years later, we are called to remember the nearly 3,000 lives that were lost on September 11, 2001.
Who could ever forget that morning, when news of passenger planes crashing into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, DC and an open field in Pennsylvania broke out and shocked the world?
“This week, Americans come together to mark the 12th anniversary of a day that shook our country to its core. Where two towers once cast a shadow, men and women gather in the early light to pay their respects. In a Pennsylvania field once scarred by debris, bells ring out and fingers trace over names etched in white marble. At the Pentagon, where a single stone still bears the scars of fire, a Nation honors souls who now know peace,” Pres. Barack Obama said in his proclamation of National Days of Prayer and Remembrance.
The president made his proclamation last Friday, in remembrance of the victims and their loved ones, and for those lives which were daunted by this tragedy.
“On this anniversary, images of darkness are never far from our thoughts. We remember planes cutting through a clear September sky, black smoke rising from the ruins below. These images will never leave us. But Scripture teaches us that light shines even in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it,” Obama stated.
The president invites people around the world to participate through prayers and contemplation, and attendance in various events and gatherings throughout the country in commemoration of the September 11 attacks.
“Their legacy lives on in those they saved and in the memories we keep. Most of all, it lives on in the spirit they embodied: compassion, resilience, unity. Many of those we lost set aside their own well-being in the hope they could save someone they would never know.”
Obama also reminded that despite the horrors left by the worst terrorist attack in US soil, we have moved forward. He said that the nation and its people have proved their resilience.
“When shock and confusion could have torn us apart, we chose instead to move forward together, as one people. Years from now, these acts will reveal the true legacy of that day — of a safer world, a stronger Nation, and a country more united than ever before,” Obama said.
Apart from exploring the details of this nightmare, we are compelled to also remember the lesson this tragedy has left us, especially these days where armed conflicts are still prevalent.
Violence doesn’t solve anything. War is never the answer. And no cause makes life worth sacrificing.
We must take a stand and take it upon ourselves to value the sanctity of every human life, regardless of nationality or creed.
For all the right humanitarian reasons and for the sake of a peaceful tomorrow and a safer world, promoting peace and unity should begin within ourselves.
In pursuit of this objective, we should encourage leaders of the world to resort to dialogue and cooperation, in order to settle conflicts within or between nations.
(AJPress)
