We’ve visited the site of the New York City 9/11 terrorist attack twice.

Once when there was a simple fence around the gaping hole where the Twin Towers once stood, and more recently after the fountains were in place where the buildings once stood.

Both times, as we approached these hallowed grounds, I found myself chocking back more than tears.  I found myself fighting to keep from convulsing into outright cries of gut-wrenching agony.  Only during my visits to Nazi death camps have I ever found myself so completely overcome with painful emotion. In fact, the emotional impact of the 9/11 site was so great, I am finding tears streaming down my face as I type these words.

“The National September 11 Memorial is a tribute of remembrance and honor to the nearly 3,000 people killed in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center site, near Shanksville, Pa., and at the Pentagon, as well as the six people killed in the World Trade Center bombing in February 1993.

The Memorial’s twin reflecting pools are each nearly an acre in size and feature the largest manmade waterfalls in North America. The pools sit within the footprints where the Twin Towers once stood. Architect Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker created the Memorial design selected from a global design competition that included more than 5,200 entries from 63 nations.

The names of every person who died in the 2001 and 1993 attacks are inscribed into bronze panels edging the Memorial pools, a powerful reminder of the largest loss of life resulting from a foreign attack on American soil and the greatest single loss of rescue personnel in American history. ” (via The National September 11 Memorial website)

I don’t have any great words of wisdom to share about 9/11, or of our visits to the memorial site.  As I find myself contemplating the event, invariably, I find my soul crying out to God for protection from future such attacks, mercy and comfort for the families of the fallen, wisdom for our elected leaders, and a right perspective as I live out my life enjoying the great privilege of travel.

As St. Augustine said, “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.”  Carol and I can personally attest that a personal visit to this page of history is indeed a very somber, and sobering experience.

Oh God, teach us to love one another…