The attacks on
America that occurred on September 11, 2001 revealed one of the most intensely
depraved images of human nature possible. The loss of human life was enormous.
The destruction to the heart of a vibrant city was unimaginable. But the damage
this did to our humanity was the deepest wound.
In the light of
atrocities like this, there is a very human tendency to lapse into black and
white reductionism, to channel collective human Shadow content into caricatures
that become sweeping assessments of whole groups of people, most of whom had
nothing to do with the events at hand.
We saw that through
the lenses of a nebulous Islamophobia that almost immediately became the way
many people across America processed the events of 9-11. That fear and loathing
would have a very human toll. In Arizona, a Sikh man who was planting flowers
to honor the victims of 9-11 was shot dead, his assailant traveling to a nearby
gas station and wounding a Lebanese American while proclaiming “I’m a patriot.
I’m an American to the core.” Across the country 11 Americans would be slain,
several of whom were not Muslim, even as President George W. Bush called for
restraint and the distinguishing of the
Islamic faith from the individual acts of terrorists claiming its banner.
But that would
not stop that president from launching America into two wars. In Afghanistan
American soldiers would torture suspected terrorists in the same Bagram prison the
Soviets and the Taliban had used for that purpose and later in Iraq where American
torture occurred in Abu Ghraib, Saddam Hussein’s prison.
The two wars
were ill-conceived, costly and ultimately proved to be losing efforts. And the
torture which was utilized stained the soul of an America which had been among
the principal architects of the Geneva Conventions that its own agents were
violating. American torture soon became a powerful recruitment force for Al Qaeda
and ISIS.
This was
decidedly not America’s best moment. But it was also not the whole story.
The first
responders who arrived at the Twin Towers on 9-11 before their collapse launched
into rescuing badly burned victims and leading the occupants of the offices down
the towers to safety. Some would give their lives in that selfless public
service, among them Franciscan priest Mychal Judge, an out gay man who was the
chaplain for the New York Fire Department. In his life and death, the
Franciscan priest embodied something larger than any of the categories by which
we divide ourselves.
One of those selfless
responders was my friend, Stephen Roberts, whom I had known since our time
together at the University of Florida. I would ultimately leave the practice of
law I was studying to become an Episcopal priest. Stephen would leave the
business world for which his MBA was preparing him to become a Reform rabbi. He
and his husband lived a few blocks away from Ground Zero in New York. And
Stephen would spend the next months of his life offering chaplaincy services to
those sifting through the debris in search of anything allowing searchers to
identify human remains.
I am very proud
to call Stephen my friend.
While 9-11
brought out the absolute worst in human nature, it also brought out the very
best. Abraham Lincoln spoke of this potential in his fellow Americans as “our
better angels.” And on 9-11, when the demons had finished their deadly work,
our better angels began to show up.
But that response
came at a cost. The health concerns of those who carried out that grim work at
Ground Zero have recently become publicized. Many of them are facing cancers
and other serious diseases. We owe these people the very best medical care and
support we can give them. That includes ongoing psychological support for those
who still experience PTSD all these years later.
Today, let us remember
those lost in that horrible day in New York, D.C. and Pennsylvania. Let us remember
the many lost on both sides in the subsequent destructive wars on the far side
of the world, wars which continue today in the Middle East. Let us remember the
wounds to our nation’s very soul that ensued from all of these events. But most
importantly, may we always remember our better angels who, in Lincoln’s words,
stepped up to help bind up our nation’s wounds.
This day, may
we recognize that vengeful destructiveness and mindless hatred of others are
not the only responses available to human beings and human societies that have
been wounded. Our better angels are always present, if we only allow them to step
up. For as Lincoln so ably observed, we can always do better.
IMAGE: Recovery of the body of Fr. Mychal
Judge, OFM
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If the
unexamined life is not worth living, surely an unexamined belief system, be it
religious or political, is not worth holding. Most things worth considering do
not come in sound bites.
Those who
believe religion and politics aren't connected don't understand either. – Mahatma
Gandhi
For what
does G-d require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk
humbly with your G-d? - Micah 6:8, Hebrew Scriptures
Do not be
daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now.
Walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are
you free to abandon it. - Rabbi Rami Shapiro, Wisdom of the
Jewish Sages (1993)
© Harry
Scott Coverston, 2026
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