Loose talk can cost lives.
Last week, at the end of a long day, I wrote about my experiences in lower Manhattan on September 11, 2001. Writing it was a surreal experience for me, no real goal in mind, it just started coming out me and onto the screen. I didn’t edit it. I didn’t polish it up. I did try and add something prolific at the end, some commentary that would show how profound the feelings I was expressing were.
And though what I wrote was true, I really don’t think September 11th is about me. That’s one of the reasons why I have a hard time thinking about and talking about it. Sure, I feared for my life that day in a way I never had before and never have since, but for me, one of the hard things about September 11th is how I feel distanced from it.
Part of it, I think, is self-preservation, my inner-psyche is minimizing/compartmentalizing/transferring my experiences so that I don’t have to reconcile the tragedy and impact of being that close to such violence. I recognize that that is definitely the case.
But I also think there’s something else and the best way I can describe it is something like “survivor guilt” (though not as extreme). I find I’m having more and more difficulty thinking about what I experienced on September 11th as (for lack of a better term) noteworthy. Which doesn’t mean I diminish the experience or the affect it’s had on me. I just feel like I walked away from that day really no worse for the wear, especially when compared to tragic impact that day has had on thousands upon thousands of victims and their families.
I lived.
I was not hurt.
I was not in the direct path of danger.
No one I know was killed or injured.
The violence of that day did not touch my life anywhere near the way it has for the 2974 victims and their friends and families. I got off easy.
And so over this past week (especially on the eighth anniversary of the attacks) I find myself reacting negatively to most of the commentary or personal recounting of the day. This feeling particularly came to the surface tonight when I saw two things (via social media).
The first was someone posted on Flickr a photo set of images from September 11, all of which showed the damage and chaos of that day and the following days. The second was an article pondering what September 11 would have been like if today’s social media tools had been as available and popular back then. I’m not including links to either of these because the point in writing this is not to call them out or admonish them.
***Before I get to the point, let me say: It is self-righteous of me to judge anyone’s intentions or methods for acknowledging, memorializing, or even expressing interest in September 11th. I confess this as sin and am grateful that Christ’s love washes me clean.
The point I want to make is this, both of the things I saw tonight focused on aspects of September 11th which, though interesting, detract from the tragedy of that day. Neither site so much as mention the loss of thousands of lives that occurred that day.
In this era of increasing social media usage, the goal of generating and linking to unique and engaging content may cause people to lose sight of what is truly significant about the things they commenting on. And since the power of social media is its ability to spread content to great extents, the chances of our content being seen by someone who has been profoundly touched by something like September 11th. We must not become desensitized to events by the media we use to share those events. By doing so we might touch a wound or cause some pain with our carelessness.
I’m not advocating censorship or saying that social media is bad. All I am saying is that as servants of the Kingdom, it is important that we watch what we say.
Matthew 12:36-37 (English Standard Version)
I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”