Words and Meaning   (09/18/01)
 

The events of last Tuesday are still difficult to get a handle on.  As I watched on TV as the events unfolded, I kept finding myself stunned as each event seemed to find a new level of horror.

Too many people have tried to put a scale on the events of September 11, saying that this was worse than this event or that.  I don't know that I can agree with their assessments, nor can I place a degree on it myself.  Suffice it to say that it was as terrible an event as the imagination will allow and too terrible to fade from our memory.

One day justice will be served on the perpetrators of this heinous atrocity.  But until that day comes, my greatest hope is that our nation's power to heal is greater than it's power to retaliate.  If anything good can come from this, it is that our present spirit of giving and caring for people in need will not conclude when the clean-up operations do, but will continue, spreading to include everyone, everyday, in all aspects of our lives.

That, and perhaps only that, will ultimately give some meaning to the terrible sacrifice of the thousands of victims last week.