Sept 11, 2001
In Three Cantos
Copyright by Andy Fraenkel, 2001
The Center For Sacred Storytelling

Canto 1

On that day the lives of all of us were shaken. We saw images that I'm sure will remain with us for the rest of our days. We felt the pain of a nation in turmoil and uncertainty. We dare not even imagine the scenes of innocent human beings on board the airplanes and in the buildings, and the type of challenges fate thrust upon them on that day. It all seems too much for the heart to bear and for the mind to comprehend. Only someone under the greatest darkness could perpetrate such horrendous acts and simultaneously attempt to invoke the name of God.

Even though the world may at times seem cruel and impersonal, there is a divine purpose behind all things. There is a certain symmetry in life; a certain dynamic at play in the universe; a deep rooted connection between all things.

There are times in our lives when we need to be provided for and there are times when we can provide for others in need. These activities of giving and accepting, and of teaching and learning, providing and being provided for is the basis of all meaningful relationships and exchanges. This principle of divine symmetry of giving and receiving has far reaching effects, and ultimately whatever we give we will receive.

We all have various resources at our disposal - our wealth, our time, our words, our energy. We have the free will to use them in whatever way we choose. Usually we tend use our resources for primarily our own gratification. But we will inevitably find that no matter what kind of wealth and success we have, these types of activities will leave us unfulfilled. In actuality, the soul is eager to put aside all mundane and selfish considerations, to reach out in compassion to everyone we meet.

As we have witnessed, when catastrophe strikes people are capable of remarkable feats. Human beings become intimately connected. Barriers begin to dissolve. During such a time a great realization can potentially emerge; a realization that can carry us far beyond the common course of events; a realization which can have a profound impact not only on all of us now but on future generations. This realization is both simple and sublime: that we are all eternal souls, that we have a common Father and Mother, and that we are all part of a universal family.

Can we ever fully acknowledge that fact? Can we ever come together to honor each other as parts of the whole spiritual family? Should anyone anywhere have to suffer as our nation has suffered on September 11? Can we recognize in the faces of strangers our own hopes, concerns, fears and joys? Otherwise, what lesson have we truly learned and what sacrifice have the dead made for us? And what is the value of building stone memorials for the dead, if we ourselves do not become living memorials of love and understanding.

Canto 2

Terrorists came for millions of men and women in Africa, chained them up, carried them away from the land of their birth and then sold them into slavery. In the middle of the night, terrorists smashed the shops of the Jews, and soon millions of men, women and children were hoarded into train cars and sent to death camps. Monks were driven from their pristine temples in Tibet. Thousands who remained behind were tortured and killed by terrorists.

They came and systematically pushed the Native Americans off their lands and forced them on long marches in which many perished. Children were taken away to be raised by strangers and forbidden to speak in their native tongue. At Wounded Knee innocent men, women and children were mowed down by terrorists who operated the Gattling guns of the United States Army.

In the Middle East, Israelis and Palestinians torment one another. In Northern Ireland, Protestants and Catholics torment one another. In India, Muslims and Hindus torment one another. The Shi'ites and the Sunnis, two Muslim sects, have also tormented one another.

In Bosnia, ethnic groups that we've never heard of torment one another. In Gautemala, 100,000 disappeared at the hands of death squads. CIA trained death squads terrorized thousands in Columbia. Who heard of East Timor before the massacres there? In Chechnya 60,000 civilians were killed by the Russian Army. In Rwanda hundreds of thousands of Tutsi men, women and children, and sympathetic Hutus, are butchered by their countrymen. In Cambodia, the followers of Pot Pol tortured and killed a million of their own country men, women and children.

In the southern United States, African American churches were torched by white terrorists. In one church four beautiful young girls died. And who would have thought that in Oklahoma such loss of life could be planned by other Americans. A mere generation ago who would have imagined that our children would bring guns into schools and turn them on their classmates. On September 11, nineteen terrorists hijacked four planes and ruthlessly killed thousands of innocent people. The Twin Towers turned into rubble on the streets of New York and firemen and policemen wept.

Everyday the sun rises on populations of the world that live in fear of terrorism of every shape and form.

Now we must do the one thing the terrorists don't want to see happen - people of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, of different religious and spiritual traditions, people of all walks of life, coming together to pray, to share their stories and their realizations, to show the whole world that we are indeed one family. More than ever before, people of different racial, ethnic, religious backgrounds need to reach out and embrace one another in love and understanding to demonstrate the kind of relations and behavior that must prevail in a civilized world.

Canto 3 (presented at the Religious Communications Congress 2000)

Life is actually very short. Historically, the generations are constantly unfolding. The efforts of our ancestors were quickly devoured by all consuming time. Empires fade or topple. Fortunes move from one family to another. The forces which we must contend with in this world are formidable. When one removes the thin veneer of pleasure, we see people enveloped by struggles of many sorts. Even in the most comfortable of residences, individuals are prey to great anxieties, and daily struggle with physical and emotional issues.

Whenever we open the newspaper, it is not uncommon to read about people of diverse religious and ethnic traditions imposing curses and calamities upon one another. This has been the case for centuries.

The age we live in is very crucial in many ways. What type of legacy will we leave the generations to come? Never before in history have people of such diversity lived in such close proximity. If we continue to linger in the mindset which has driven religious and ethnic traditions thus far, it could have devastating consequences.

It is important now that people of faith should not seek to add to the problems nor contribute to the conflicts of this world. But people of faith should want to bring relief to the disturbances which plague us.

Many ancient prophesies explain that the age we now live in is a time of quarrel, hypocrisy and cheating. Quarreling is everywhere from families to nations. It continues not only amongst various religions, but even within churches. The world, it seems, is a vast ocean of quarrel and criticism. But it doesn't have to be. This age is also a time of great hope.

For society to live in peace, the leaders, be they religious, political, cultural, or academic, must provide fitting examples. Indeed, each one of us must humbly ask God to allow us to become such servant/leaders; to become beacons of light and hope, that we may provide an example of comfort and inspiration to all.

There are two types of love. We may love our family, our friends and our country. That love is exclusive. We don't necessarily love all families or all nations. But when we speak of "love of God," - that type of love is by definition inclusive. It must encompass all families and all nations, and indeed all forms of life because God is the source and the loving Father of all. Whatever religion we practice, be it Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist, or of any indigenous tradition, let us work for the good of the universal family.

Peace with every breath,
Andy Fraenkel
story108@juno.com

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