How Can Anyone Love Hate so Much?
On this anniversary of 9-11 I still wonder how those who flew the planes into our buildings and our souls could love hate so much. When I see the haunting faces of those young men who piloted the planes I ponder where exactly was the crossroad where they stepped into the land of shadows; a place where they could only see reflections of an enemy that needed to be attacked simply because we were “the other.”
The way they lived among us and calculated their task in such a way as to inflict maximum pain in the most visible way possible reveals the depth of their love of hate for us. “What did we do to you that you wanted to hurt us so much,” I want to ask the faces on the TV screen? But there will be no answer because they took the questions with them along with the innocent lives of so many to the ashes that they longed to create.
“You will be martyrs for Allah as you fight this Jihad,” is what they were told and they believed it. Somehow they were going to be rewarded in Paradise for their hate.
As the famous Dr. Phil expression so goes, “How did that work out for you?” If Paradise is what I think it is and not what they imagined it to be there was quite a surprise waiting for these martyrs.
I can hear it now as they faced the God they longed to meet:
God: What in the hell were you thinking. Yes you heard me right. This was Hell
you created. Don’t go calling what you did anything to do with Heaven.
You see all those people coming from around the corner over there?
Those are the lives you took. Many of them are still wiping the sleep from
their eyes assuming that this must have been a bad dream. I’ll be spending
some time with them in a moment but for now sit down and listen.
Whoever told you that I was the one you did this for got lost a long time
ago. No religion owns me or has the right to use my name to justify their
cause. In a book they now call the Bible, some of the stories sound like I
like that kind of stuff but those folks got it wrong too. O I know they call
it the Word of God but it needs to be interpreted and studied for what it
is rather than trying to make it what it is not. If you listen between the
the lines of that book, I clearly say that no one or no religion has a
monopoly on me. You people just can’t get over trying to do that.
Now about your religion; Yes, I know you have your sacred book but
you have done the same thing with it that many Christians and Jews
do with their sacred text. You have made it conform to your narrow
view of life and of me. Now you know I am bigger than any word,
any book, or any religion.
What you think you did for me you actually did for you. Your religion led
you to hate my children and the hellish part of it is that you did it
in the my name. By the way I do not have a name. All your names
for me are more a reflection of you than of me. In all of your sacred
books you kept wanting to name me and I resisted all of your efforts.
The only reason I allowed you to use names for me is that you kept
wanting to claim me. I realize now that I should have not given you
even that privilege because you have misused it.
You have a lot to learn about me but there’s time now for you to
learn. For now, I want you to come over here and meet the people
whose lives you took. You did not know their stories but I did.
Now it is time for you to learn their stories. You got lost in your
own story and thought it was the only one. And when you claimed
me as the narrator of your story you were so very wrong.
So now it is no longer 9-11. It is 9-12 forever. I wish I could send
you back to tell others of your mistake. When will my people ever
learn?
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A powerful message. And being in a broken relationship, my wife having left me and vowing not to return, I hear part of this blog speaking to me... "You have a lot to learn about me but there’s time now for you to learn." Now that I'm here with two dogs in a 4000+ square foot home with no wife to share my life with and very few members of my family to talk to, I certainly do have time. And, I am taking my first steps to move Him from my head to my heart; following His plan for me instead of my own misguided plan. "You got lost in your own story and thought it was the only one. And when you claimed me as the narrator of your story you were so very wrong." Every day I realize this more and more. And I also realize that only through commitment to His way will I find the peace that has evaded me for so long, the lack of patience, the need for humility, and the all too late discovery that raising the volume of your voice does nothing to reinforce your argument. It just intimidates others. Thank you for sharing these messages with those of us who struggle with their faith (or lack of it) and who have realized the ways we've dealt with others and not listened in the way that He would have us listen have put us in a place we never wanted to be with our loved ones... but we've now arrived at the place where we have opened our hearts to His Word and to the path forward we must take. "Let Go and Let God" and "What Would Jesus Do?" have become more than just groups of words.
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