How have our priorities changed since September 11?
By the Right Reverend Thomas Clark Ely, Bishop of Vermont
Mountain Echo, July/August 2002
June 11, 2002 marked the nine-month remembrance of the September 11th terrorist attacks. Many news articles and commentaries on or near June 11th took note of the fact that we will experience something of a “baby boom” with the birth of those children conceived in the weeks following September 11th. My own anecdotal confirmation of this came in a recent conversation with some nurses from Fletcher Allen hospital. One of the reasons many commentators cited for this “baby boom” is the reordering of people’s priorities in light of September 11th. That led me to reflect some on my own priorities and how those might or might not have changed in the nine months since September 11th.
One priority that has changed for me is that I am trying harder to understanding the cultural and religious differences of other people. It is not that this has been unimportant to me before, but now it seems such an essential part of what it means to be a citizen of the world. The promise in the Baptismal Covenant to “respect the dignity of every human being” has increased in significance for me since September 11th. Part of this has to do simply with tolerance, but more so it has to do with trying to understand the various lenses through which other people, other cultures, other faiths look at the world. I said in my first Convention address, “September 11th did not so much change the world as it did our awareness of the world.” I still believe that.
Another change I’ve noticed in myself is that I hardly ever pass a firehouse these days without thinking about the police, fire and rescue workers who died in the line of service on September 11th. Again, I think I’ve always had an appreciation for those who serve in these professions, but to be honest, I took their service more for granted then than I do now. I find now that I have a heightened sense of gratitude for the women and men who train and prepare to be of service to others and to their communities in this way.
Liberty, freedom and justice have always been high priorities for me. Non-violence and seeking peaceful solutions to conflict have likewise been high priorities for me. I find those priorities being challenged by the priorities of retribution, safety and security that have been brought to the fore by the events of September 11th and the subsequent military action the United States and other countries have undertaken, as well as by the domestic policies and actions that have the potential to compromise the civil liberties of people. The ultimate source of liberty, freedom, justice and peace for me is Christ, and of that I am as certain as ever before. In the realm of our daily living, the reconciling mission of God in Christ is in our hands and so we promise, “I will with God’s help.” As I struggle with conflicting priorities, a line from one of the songs in the musical, Children of Eden expresses an important possibility for me to remember: “Our hearts can choose to stop the hating. Our hands can choose to drop the knife. For every moment of our lives is a beginning.”
What about you? What have you been pondering in this pregnant time since September 11th? What is being born in you? What are you giving birth to that might reflect new, or renewed, priorities in your life?
Faithfully yours,
+ Thomas
Copyright ® 2002, The Episcopal Diocese of Vermont. All rights Reserved.