This September 11th is Different

In recent years the events of September 11, 2001 and the ensuing War on Terror touched only the outer parameter of my family’s life. That all changed last fall when my husband, a Cincinnati business owner and military reservist, received orders to spend 15 months in Iraq.

Since then 9/11 has meant the loss of 52 Saturdays with Dad’s famous crepes, our teenager learning to drive without Dad’s guidance, our youngest getting on the school bus for the first time with no reassuring father’s hug, and sadness soaking into each birthday and holiday.

Many times over the past year I have had to choose whether I would allow my circumstances to overcome me or I would overcome them.

We have lost a year as a family, but the sum total of our loss dims in comparison to those who forever lost their spouse, parent, child, or sibling at the hands of terrorist over the last six years.

Besides leaning on God, I have looked for people who’ve exemplified how to take what was intended for evil and redeem it for good. Take for example, Jay Winuk, who lost a brother in the Towers. Jay and a friend initiated MyGoodDeed.org, which encourages people to do at least one act of kindness on September 11th as a way of honoring those who lost their life that tragic day. Jay is not the only one. I ran across an article in USA Today that listed 132 charitable foundations established by those who lost loved ones on 9/11.

The redemption does not stop there. Military families who have suffered a loss in the days since September 11, 2001, continually choose to use their heartbreak to touch the lives of others. Keith and Carolyn Maupin established the Yellow Ribbon Center in Eastgate after their son, Matt, went missing in Iraq three years ago. The Maupins have dedicated their lives to raising the morale of servicemen and their families at a time when their own morale has got to be at its lowest point.

We, as a nation, must make the same choice. Either we can be swallowed up by despair or these events can motivate us to build a better, safer, more compassionate world.

I am not willing to let the acts of terrorist force me into a corner of self-pity and defeat. Are you? We must determine which course we choose to take. If single-minded in our efforts to overcome the enemy, we can be victorious both here and abroad.

Published in the Cincinnati Enquirer, September 11, 2007