For those of you who believe in prayer, and anyone else would like to join in, on first anniversary of one of the most horrific events of our time, I think a prayer thread would be appropriate. Feel free to speak whatever words you are moved to say, or note a silent prayer with a cross, +. I pray for peace and healing for America, the Middle East, and the world. I pray that we may be able to move on, not forgetting what has happened, but being able to live whole lives while working towards lasting solutions. I pray that we have the strength to remain steadfast in our faith, and not let discouragement or hatred best us, that we remember that ultimately, “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places,” (Eph 6:12). And when things look bleak for the world, we remember the words of Paul. “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38, 39) On a personal note, I was out last night and driving through the streets of Calgary I noticed American flags flying. On this day, in solidarity, this Canadian flies an American too.
I thought about you last night, Grizz. PBS ran a short documentary called "Stranded Yanks" about the 30,000 people who were stranded in Canada for 4 days after Sept. 11. Numerous flights to America had been diverted to various Canadian cities and the passengers were stuck far from home. The outpouring of goodness and generosity from the Canadian people was simply amazing. They put the travelers up in schools, businesses and even private homes. The fed them, entertained them and offered comfort in a very upsetting time. I was very moved by the goodness of spirit and solidarity that our neighbors to the north showed. It was a wonderful reminder that even in the darkest of days, small rays of hope manage to shine through. +
One of my good friends was one of the 30,000 people. In fact, he had it worse than most. First of all he was brown skinned (Indian man and an Indian citizen). Seconly, he was on a flight arriving from Dubai after visiting his parents in Saudi Arabia. Needless to say as a non-American citizen arriving from Saudi Arabia, my friend was very nervous about how he would be treated after finally hearing the details of the tragedy. He said that they didn't find out until after they landed and found a TV. On the airplane, the pilot told them that a tragedy had occured that was preventing them from landing in New York City. In order to not frighten the passengers, the details were not reported to them. Well, after a few hours, his nerves settled because of the amazing generosity of the Canadians at the air force base he was stranded at for four days. They provided everyone with all basic necessitites and treated them with such outstanding hospitatlity. Hats off to our neigbors to the North!
Thanks! Yeah, Calgary had a number of planes land. People were calling in to radio shows offering to put passengers up in their homes. I bet fadeaway has some impressive stories to tell. There is a small town in Newfoundland that has served as a refuelling/service stop for transatlantic flights, so they have a very big airport but no services. They were one of only a couple of places, Halifax being another, that took most of the flights that had been in the air over the Atlantic. The town has a population of 10,000, and they ended up with 37 planes on the ground with over 6,500 people! Newfoundland hospitality is the stuff of legend, though, and within hours they had thousands of volunteers attending to the passengers. Pretty incredible. http://cbc.ca/stories/2002/09/11/gander_attacks020911
