For whoever does the will of my
Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.
I will never forget where I was on September 12, 2001.
9/12/01 at 11 a.m. That’s the moment my life changed forever.
Only two days before, on September 10, I had tried (with deafening
failure) to explain to my 16 and 17-year-old students the situation in Palestine and
Israel. As I watched one student, Tanya, I knew that my passion for the subject was not
going to be enough to make her, or the rest of my students, care. They thought the
Israeli-Palestinian quarrels had nothing to do with them and had no effect on their lives.
I went home so angry that I called anyone who would listen and
complained about "these kids today" and how they couldn’t see anything
outside themselves. I could not believe how self-centered their world was.
On September 12, I stood in front of these same students, desperately
trying to help them make sense of this new world. We spent the whole class talking about
the future of our world. As I looked into Tanya’s face, I noticed a change. She
slowly raised her hand, and the words she spoke changed my life.
She looked at me with such desperation and said, "I couldn’t
have cared less about the world two days ago, but now I have to know everything. Why did
this happen? Why are people hurting other people?" I realized then that I had sold my
students short. They did realize that the world had become irrevocably interconnected and
that we needed to try to understand that world.
If I can draw a lesson from 9-11 it is that the family of Christ must
live as such. Christ calls us to be kind and compassionate to our neighbors. 9-11 has
expanded our ideas of neighborhood.
Jesus reached out to people outside his family. He loved those who
seemed unlovable and touched them forever with the sign of his love. As the brothers and
sisters of Christ, we are called to do the same. We must live as the family of Christ and
share the sign of his love with all our neighbors.
P.S. The class I called "selfish" spearheaded a school
fundraiser that collected more than $1,500 for the Red Cross.
Lord, we thank you for the wonderful diversity your creation has
provided. Help us to remember as we go through our days that the person next to us is part
of your family. Help us to treat each other in such a manner. Amen.
Christy Hansen
