Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, but a good word makes it glad. (Proverbs 12:25)
17 years later and the sadness of 9/11 is still fresh. I wake up with a sorrow in my heart, and brace for the tears that will undoubtedly flow at some point during the day. As the TV replays the images and horrors of that day, it’s like seeing it all again for the first time.
As the sadness grows, at some point I always venture over to my work’s email ‘Search’ box and type the word ‘alive’. I quickly look for the one with the subject line ‘WTC’ and dated 9/12/2001. I double click the message and smile as I see the words from my friend saying, “FZ, I’m alive!” I usually let the message just sit there on my screen for awhile, and let that image overpower all the bad ones. At some point I finally decide to close it, but before I do, I lift up a prayer of thanks for a friend that I thought I had lost, and for these two words from him that will always tell a story of hope and triumph in the midst of great tragedy.