Fifteen years ago today, the World Trade Center was destroyed in New York City, the Pentagon attacked in Washington, DC, and United Airlines Flight 93 downed at Shanksville, PA.
But the human spirit shone brightly in the days, weeks, and months that followed.
The post below (now updated) was originally published 9/11/12
Ground Zero Cross, Author Samuel Li (CC-BY-2.0)
WARNING: Graphic Images
“For the Lord will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places; He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord…” (Is. 51: 3).
Covering 2200 acres and taller than the Statue of Liberty, the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island, NY can be seen from space.
At one time the primary waste disposal site for the City of New York, Fresh Kills was closed to dumping early in 2001, but reopened to process the 2 million tons of debris from the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
Mass Destruction
“You could not comprehend the massive destruction [at Ground Zero]. Even though there was an enormous amount of toxic debris and smoke, your skin was on fire you couldn’t breathe your eyes were tearing, you just kept going on and on. You didn’t care – you just wanted to find somebody [1].”
– former EMS Paramedic, Freddie Noboa, now suffering from PTSD, asthma, and many other illnesses
Twisted girders, broken concrete, bricks, glass, shredded paper, and human remains were shipped by truck and barge to Fresh Kills.
A Miniature City
Work at Fresh Kills went on 24/7 consuming over 1.7 million man hours. A miniature city grew up to accommodate the NYC Police Department, FBI, 25 state and federal agencies, and 14 contractors sorting through the material.
Though recovery workers at Ground Zero toiled without respirators, those at Fresh Kills landfill were provided them, along with safety gear which included protective suits and gloves; goggles; hard hats; and steel-toe boots.
In view of the high stress environment, psychological counseling was, also, made available.
Like Being in Hell
“We found 150 full bodies and 20,000 body parts. It was like being in hell down there – arms, legs, people cut in half – a gruesome job. There were guys down there spitting up blood [2].”
– former FDNY Deputy Chief, Jim Riches, who found his son’s body on “the pile” at Ground Zero in March 2002
Under strict security protocols, piece after piece of material was passed along assembly lines and closely examined. Thousands of fragmentary human remains were recovered from which 300 persons were identified. More than 1600 personal effects were retrieved.
Toxic Debris
The toxic debris from the collapse of the Twin Towers was found to contain more than 2500 contaminants. These included glass and other fibers, asbestos, lead, and mercury.
About 70% of first responders developed cancers and serious respiratory conditions. Along with EMS and firefighters, construction workers, health care professionals, clergy, and others continue to suffer from medical issues a decade later. Read more…
“Skipjack” style fishing boat, HM Krentz, at Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, Author Acroterion (CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported)
I have lived in the Chesapeake Bay area for a year now. Born and raised in New York City, I worked for many years as a lawyer there and Philadelphia. The shift from urban to rural was deliberate on my part. But it’s been dramatic.
Most residents here are farmers. There are chicken houses and cornfields right outside town. This time of year, the corn stands 7’ high. What with the heat, it’s a wonder the crop doesn’t pop in the field! But you can see the Milky Way at night.
The pace of things is slower here. There’s one mall in town, and a pretty little park with no name. People smile and hold the door. Businesses still close on Sundays.
There are few McMansions. You come across some homes so tiny that they’re basically studio apartments with a roof. People gather in the school parking lot to watch fireworks on the 4th of July. But we have the amenities. There’s a Walmart and a Home Depot.
Chains like Red Lobster and Longhorn Steak are about the fanciest restaurants around. But you can find water in any direction, and catch your own lunch.
Fishermen – called “watermen” locally – have a long history on the Chesapeake. Theirs though is a dying profession. They can’t compete with the huge floating canneries. Most kids go off to college, and pursue a different line of work than their fathers. The Chesapeake, itself, is under assault from pollution. Read more…
Anti-Irish political cartoon (“Usual Irish Way of Doing Things”) run in Harper’s Weekly, (1871), Author Thomas Nast, (PD-Age)
Between 1845 and 1854, 2.9 million men, women, and children fled to the United States due to economic and social hardship.
Characterizing these immigrants as unsavory and dangerous, the nativist Know Nothing Movement arose, in response. The goals of this movement were to safeguard “real” American values (including a Protestant heritage), and to end – or at least sharply curtail – the influence of immigrants and Catholics, whether native-born or not.
A Protestant minister described the Catholic faith as “the ally of tyranny, the opponent of material prosperity, the foe of thrift, the enemy of the railroad, the caucus, and the school [1].” Catholics were seen as trying to overthrow the government.
The Irish, in particular, were viewed as drunkards and degenerates, mentally impaired, and loyal to a foreign pope. The New York Sun ran 15 job ads labeled “No Irish Need Apply” in 1842 alone [2]. The practice continued for some 80 years [3].
Despite all that, over 150,000 Irish served in the Union Army during the Civil War. In Pennsylvania, they dug the canals and the coal mines. The Irish laid track for both ends of the Transcontinental Railroad (the western branch of which was completed by Chinese immigrants).
Irish immigrants established labor unions, charitable societies, and parochial schools. They eventually came to dominate police and politics in New York and Chicago. In 1960, they helped elect an Irish Catholic president in the person of John F. Kennedy. Read more…
Bread and butter, Author stu_spivack, Source https://www.flickr.com/photos/35034346243@N01/292742953/ (CC BY-SA 2.0 Generic)
It is all too human to compare ourselves with others. She has better hair. He has a better car.
Even Christians do this…whether they should or not [1]. Oftentimes, the comparison is in spiritual terms. He is always speaking up at bible study. She has headed the Christian women’s group for years.
Calculating Spirituality
This, of course, is foolishness. We may be able to count our blessings. But we cannot calculate our spirituality.
We cannot grade our relationship with Christ any more than assign a numeric value to our other relationships. There simply is no formula. How often should a good husband take out the garbage? How tall is a good wife?
Paul said, on this subject:
“For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise” (2 Cor. 10: 12).
Visions, Dreams, and Speaking in Tongues
Still, we fall into the trap. Bread and butter Christianity is not enough. Love of God and neighbor is not enough. We should see apocalyptic visions, have prophetic dreams. We should speak in tongues, heal by the laying on of hands, and hear God’s voice audibly.
If we do not have these gifts, we must be failed Christians. So we presume. Read more…
Statue of Molossian mastiff (so called “Jennings Dog” or “Dog of Alcibiades”), Author Marie-Lan Nguyen, Source British Museum (Accession No. GR 2001.10-10.1), (CC BY 2.5 Generic)
“Blood and destruction shall be so in use And dreadful objects so familiar That mothers shall but smile when they behold Their infants quarter’d with the hands of war… And Caesar’s spirit… Shall in these confines with a monarch’s voice Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war…”
– Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar (1601)
The Roman military used Molossian mastiffs much as the US military uses German shepherds today. With time, the phrase “dogs of war” became a synonym for soldiers. The term “havoc” originated as an order during the Middle Ages. It was an instruction to sack and burn.
This presidential campaign has let loose the dogs of war.
Until recently, political animus was considered on the fringes of acceptable behavior. However, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have together set forces in motion that are not likely to be easily corralled.
Neither respects the truth; neither respects the law. As a result, causes, characters, and practices previously frowned on have come out of the shadows.
Despicable Causes and Characters
White nationalists have formed a PAC on behalf of Trump, and initiated robocalls.
Former KKK leader, David Duke, and Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin have openly praised the Republican candidate. Trump has, in turn, praised Saddam Hussein and quoted Benito Mussolini.
Disgraced former congressman, Mark Foley, who sexually propositioned underage pages, attended a Trump rally. The father of the Orlando shooter attended a Clinton rally.
Deplorable Practices
Hyperbole is the rule. According to Trump, Pres. Barack Obama is the “founder” of ISIS, with Hillary Clinton the “co-founder”. According to Clinton, Trump’s rhetoric is making him the “recruiting sergeant” for ISIS. These may or may not have been sarcastic remarks. Believe whatever you like.
Racial, ethnic, class, and religious warfare are seen as political tools. Mexicans are rapists or so they say. Muslim immigrants must be banned for our safety; a Muslim registry should be established. A Muslim Gold Star family that presumes to take issue with this can be sharply criticized.
The integrity of the judiciary and electoral process have been called into question. A judge of Mexican heritage, we are informed, cannot be objective. The election will be “rigged” (no specifics necessary).
Violence threatens at political rallies. Trump supporters chant “Lock her up” (something we fear may turn to “Hang her high”). Anti-Trump protesters trash property, and brawl in the streets.
And assassination has been directly or indirectly encouraged. We are told that “Second Amendment people” may be the only ones able to stop Hillary Clinton from taking away their weapons, and destroying the Constitution in the process. This may or may not have been a bad joke.
Scandals
The twin scandals of Benghazi and Clinton’s emails hang in the air like a foul odor. The Clinton Foundation scandal looms. Some of us even remember Whitewater.
We are not any more likely to see the text of those very expensive speeches Hillary Clinton gave Wall Street, than we are to see Donald Trump’s tax returns. The chances of either candidate bringing Wall Street to heel are precisely nil.
The fraud claims against Trump University are a fitting, if pitiable, footnote. Read more…
Marble bust of Aristotle (Roman copy of lost Greek original), Louvre Museum (Atlas database: entry 922), Photographer Eric Gaba (Wikimedia Commons user: Sting) (CC BY-SA 2.5 Generic)
“A public official may not appoint, employ, promote, advance, or advocate for appointment, employment, promotion, or advancement, in or to a civilian position in the agency in which he is serving or over which he exercises jurisdiction or control any individual who is a relative of the public official…”
– 5 USC 3110 – Employment of relatives; restrictions
Asked this week what women he might consider for his Cabinet, if elected, Donald Trump put forward his daughter, Ivanka [1]. Trump’s children have been highly visible, taking an active part in his campaign. Hillary Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea, has, also, in recent years hinted at political aspirations [2].
Nepotism – defined by Merriam-Webster as favoritism based on kinship – places personal interest ahead of the public good. The practice is a way of consolidating power. It secures financial advantage for the trusted members of a family, while extending control by that family over a given function or area of interest.
John F. Kennedy, you may remember, nominated his brother, Robert, for the position of Attorney General of the United States, though the younger Kennedy had little or no trial experience. JFK was not the first to appoint a family member to public office. Some 40 of Ulysses S. Grant’s relations benefited directly or indirectly while he was president. Read more…
Remaining gates at Marshalsea Debtors Prison, London, Author Russell Kenny, Source http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2122/2119466639_5695691755.jpg?v=o (CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported)
“At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release of debts” (Deut. 15: 1).
The Israelites were directed to forgive debts every seventh year to reflect God’s forgiveness of sin and avoid the development of a permanent debtor class. Debtors prisons, however, existed in England as late as the 19th Century [1].
Men and women owing money could be imprisoned at the discretion of their creditors, until those debts were paid. Unlike other European nations, England placed no time limit on such imprisonment which might last for decades. That often meant entire families lived in prison, actually raising children there for lack of a viable alternative.
Since English prisons were privately run, prisoners were charged for rent, food, and clothing. The charges were simply added to their existing debts. Many debtors never regained their freedom.
Debtors Prison Today
“And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors” (Matt. 6: 12).
Though debtors prisons have been outlawed for some 200 years in the United States, they exist today.
The Supreme Court in Bearden v. Georgia made clear that those too poor to pay court fines could not be imprisoned for their failure to do so. The 1983 decision stated that a judge first had to determine if a defendant had the ability to pay, so that the refusal to pay was willful. Read more…
Defendants in the dock at Nuremberg Trials (front row: Hermann Goring, Rudolf Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and Wilhelm Keitel), National Archives and Records Administration (Identifier 540128), (PD- Federal Govt.)
“Of one thing we may be sure. The future will never have to ask, with misgiving: ‘What could the Nazis have said in their favor?’ History will know that whatever could be said, they were allowed to say. They have been given the kind of a trial which they, in the days of their pomp and power, never gave to any man.
But fairness is not weakness. The extraordinary fairness of these hearings is an attribute of our strength.”
– Excerpt from the closing argument by Robert Jackson at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials
Last year marked the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. This year, Pres. Francois Hollande of France commemorated International Holocaust Remembrance Day by meeting with Pres. Hasan Rouhani of Iran, a nation that denies the Holocaust.
Everywhere, antisemitism and antisemitic violence are on the rise.
According to the Kantor Center for the Study of European Jewry, there has been at least a 40% increase in such incidents worldwide, since 2013 [1]. Violence against Jews has included the killing of four men in a kosher supermarket in Paris, the stabbing of a rabbi in Marseilles, the killing of a guard at a Copenhagen synagogue, the beating of a man in a Berlin subway, and an attack on congregants at a London synagogue.
The EU has chosen to interject itself into the Palestinian conflict by labeling Jewish goods as from occupied Judea, Samaria a/k/a the West Bank, and the Golan Heights – never mind that there are 200 other territorial disputes across the globe which have not received this attention, including China’s occupation of Tibet [2]. Read more…
“The Court by Pilate (First Interview)” by James Tissot, Source: http://faithofthefathers.blogspot.ru/2013/03/some-good-friday-art-by-james-tissot.html (PD-Art; PD-old-100)
“He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.”
– 1984, George Orwell
To a large extent, we are what we know. Our beliefs are based on that knowledge, our actions based on those beliefs.
But what if our knowledge is not as accurate as we suppose? What if our “facts” are wrong and our assumptions false? If we hand the responsibility for truth off to someone else – anyone else – we run the risk that truth has been compromised.
Bias in the News
Consider where we get our news of the world. The majority of Americans rely on television as their primary news source, followed by the internet [1].
Approximately 60% of Fox News viewers describe themselves as conservative [2]. Compare this with the 36% of MSNBC viewers who describe themselves as liberal. MSNBC actually positioned itself as the liberal version of Fox, in an effort to boost ratings [3].
Fox News trumpets the mottos “Fair & Balanced” and “We Report, You Decide”. Fully 85% of MSNBC programming content is “opinion”, while only 14% qualifies as hard news [4].
However, by the end of the 2012 campaign, Pres. Barack Obama was receiving 46% negative coverage from Fox, with only 6% positive. Of course, Mitt Romney was receiving 71% negative press from MSNBC, with only 3% positive.
Inaccuracy Online
As for the internet, according to the WikiAnswers Community, 55% of the information there is false [5].
Unfortunately, today’s students rely increasingly on the internet for information. Literacy and writing skills have been impacted, as have interpersonal skills. Plagiarism is no longer recognized as an offense. Students freely click, copy, and paste without real analysis on their part.
Truth at Risk
But truth is at risk when no longer retained in memory or verified by reliable, independent sources. Read more…
“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”
– Elie Wiesel
As Christians, we may be called on to speak out against injustice, bigotry, and antisemitism in any number of contexts. Our response matters.
Whether we speak up or not – whether we witness or not – will be noticed. Make no mistake. Our response will be noticed by those suffering from injustice and those perpetuating it; by believers and non-believers; and by God, Himself.
Self-Righteousness
Despite his heritage and education, his talents, and his role in the early church, the Apostle Paul was never self-righteous after his conversion (Philippians 3: 4-7).
This is where many Christians today fall into error. We are to take a stand for righteousness. Our own righteousness is, however, as “filthy rags” when measured by God’s standards for holiness (Isa. 64: 6).
Unfortunately, some Christians resort to self-righteousness in an attempt to disguise that reality. This is often coupled with hypocrisy, a sin Christ was vocal against (Matt: 7:5). Thankfully, Salvation is not dependent on our righteousness, but rather on Christ’s.
Condemnation
“ ‘I have not come to condemn the world, but save it’ ”(John 3: 17).
Too many times, Christians (and those claiming to be Christian) make the mistake of condemning the sinner, along with the sin.
The actions of the Westboro Baptist Church illustrate this. Denounced both by the Baptist World Alliance and Southern Baptist Convention, this church is widely known for the hate speech it directs at American soldiers, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, and the LGBT community. Its website and protest signs make provocative statements such as “THANK GOD FOR DEAD SOLDIERS” and “GOD HATES FAGS”. Contrary to what the Westboro Baptist Church maintains, this is unbiblical conduct.
We all sin and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3: 23). Compassion for the sinner is not to be confused with condoning sin or compromising the Word. Read more…
A Lawyer's Prayers 
