Last evening I stayed up very late in the night watching footage from the 911 and listening to brave men and women facing their final hours with calmness and some with resignation and some with fear, some with hope to the end. These souls have put a human face to the tragedy. Sometimes that is lost in our focus on the dramatic tumbling towers. People were in these towers who did not want to die. People with families waiting for their return, young people, old people, grandfathers, mothers, people.
While losing 3000 plus lives in one swoop is not unique as we have seen thousands slaughtered in senseless wars but it was a sight that shook the root of our security here in North America. Our comfort rug was pulled out under our butts. It shattered our thinking that these things only happens over there, not here. It is close to home. What are we going to do about this? Are we going to exact vengeance or are we going to seek peace?
The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established. This unity can never be achieved so long as the counsels which the Pen of the Most High hath revealed are suffered to pass unheeded.
Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 286
