Media driven memories

This week at staff meeting, we were discussing prayer requests and I invited others to distance themselves from media for the rest of the week. But don’t assume that the media, and the vast number of ways in which humans now communicate electronically with one another, is something that necessitates value judgment. Very often, we hear criticisms of mass media, or of artistic representation, that place a negative or positive moral value upon the representation, and the means through which it is disseminated. Quite often, we get angry with the way an event or data are presented, and jump immediately to quarrel with the assumptions that we perceive are underwriting a potentially flawed, if not outright fabricated, presentation.

 

My prescribed distancing from mass media this week, as far as I have been able to maintain that distance, was motivated by just such a concern. I remember exactly where I was onSeptember 11, 2001. I was a student atKuyperCollege, and in between classes talking with others. A student approached us, and suggested we go into the lounge to look at the television, as something was happening that we should be troubled with. It was at that time that I saw the pillars of black smoke, seemingly being sucked out of the two buildings in a manner that seemed as though God was trying to reverse the damage, but was not up to the task. I won’t forget that image, and the confusion that lasted through the rest of that day.

 

That evening, my daughter and I walked up to the store in Cannonsburg to get some things for dinner, and the line of cars waiting to buy gas at that same store was nearly a mile long. That is another image.

 

The third image (an audio type) that has stuck with me, was listening to WOOD radio over the next few weeks (we didn’t have a television then or now), and how public service announcements were exhorting me to make purchases to help keep the American economy strong.

 

As limited as it seems, those are the images, or types, that remain in my mind. Without television, and without having a computer or internet access in my house until about three years ago, I have not really been exposed to further 9/11 imagery. Whatever existed in my memory, as related to that event, has passed by, leaving only certain images to inform my present reflection.

 

Yet, despite the lack of imagery, I have heard – I’ve listened – to many conversations, and expressions of sadness, mourning, anger, and rage associated with the terror attacks. I’m not sure if it was Bill, or someone else, that remembered how unified everybody seemed for a while after the attack, until it all fell apart at some unidentified point in time, when the urge to vindicate our sense of honor overtook the need to heal and move forward – somehow more self-aware of our new place in the world. Quite often, the 9/11 attacks have become ammunition, just as the Bible is often used as ammunition, to gain political points or hurl socio-religious darts at those daring to compete for souls that should rightly fall to our God (or nation, or us). And I want to make this clear, the co-opting of 9/11 imagery is not limited, or even used more unashamedly, by one political side or the other.

 

From Michael Moore movies to conspiracy theorists and public opinion letter writers, the 9/11 tragedy has been used shamelessly to manipulate others in attempts to garner political support, maintain power, or shame the behaviors of our perceived enemies. The imagery of 9/11 has been used to manipulate every one of us to support one way of thinking, or degrade another. Far more importantly, however, is the way we have allowed media imagery to stand firmly in the way of our ability as Christians to reflect together on the event, and listen to one another, to our neighbors, and to the world, in a manner that gives meaning to the destruction of so many. Indeed, the destruction has carried far beyond the skyline of world’s greatest city, it’s most powerful military structure, and it’s most pastoral fields of green.

 

Repeated imagery of destruction and murder fuels anger, rage, or depression in those who view it. When we learn to associate those images with, not only sadness or anger, but with our personal sense of strict justice, political power, and all that is wrong with our neighbors, we lose sight of how God has called us through Christ to respond to evil. I’m not sure there is any way to properly describe the events of September 11 other than evil. However, the matter of evil has never been limited to attacks on ourselves, or our representative strength. And the way that our God chose to incarnationally respond to evil had very little to do with justice, political power, or identifying all that is wrong with our neighbors. God’s action against evil is shown to us in the cross. And the problematic process of introspect is made clear in the actions of Jesus, who prayed that he might be released from traveling the “moral” high road. All the while Jesus was mocked and hung on the cross, his enemies stood in ridicule, and arrogantly demanded that Jesus, or the his God, rescue him from such a humiliating end.

 

Interestingly enough, the gospels are filled mainly with stories about Jesus’ life, and how he responded to evil, or corrupted souls, or the poor and marginalized. Just think of Samaritans. And if you think Jesus was perfect, and didn’t understand rage or anger against enemies, think again. He called a foreign woman who begged him for healing a dog. He then repents, and heals. The story does not indicate whether the woman from Syrophoenicia felt called to forgive him, or rage against him. She simply reminded Jesus of her own humanity. Normative humanity is what we find in the gospels, and we find how hard it is to maintain such grace as normative.

 

I believe the key to being fully human is to listen, and reflect, if we are to make the biblical life normative for ourselves as believers. We all deserve to be listened to. Like many others, though, I am best at making my feelings and opinions known to others. It takes much more to listen, and then reflect upon the experiences of others, as we respond to the events of life that indicate to us in every way that evil exists. Quite often, my first response to matters of justice is that I want justice met on my end, and in a manner that fulfills my construct of justice. Yet, if I read the Bible, I realize that God has different ideas about justice than I do, and ultimately, so do others around the world who have not shared my experiences.

 

However, it is impossible to listen, or properly reflect upon God’s love and grace, if we are consistently allowing ourselves to be bombarded with media imagery from 9/11 for weeks at a time, or see it otherwise associated with political and policy battles. This is not a call for all imagery of 9/11 to be forever erased. That misconstrues the point. My intended point is, if we are to put the events of terror into perspective ten years after the event, we must find a way to properly experience a range of emotions, but also, the feelings of others. Hyperbole informs anxiety, and in the case of terror, our anxiety is always related to the “other.”  It seems to me that such anxiety is a fairly normal, indeed healthy, response to terror. Yet, after ten years, it may be time for our anxiety to be directed toward our failure to be reconciled as a nation a decade later, and our seeming failure to navigate through the process of Christian and biblical response to the reality of evil in our midst. How do Christians come to the realization that much of our anxiety might be related to our concern that God might expect us to sacrifice or suffer in the same manner that our neighbors do?

 

I have the memories of 9/11, as I mentioned above. I also have a singular image that I keep so that I don’t forget what evil once looked like. It is a front page of the Detroit Free Press, with the image of the collapsed towers. You see, It’s not that I ever intend to forget tragedy, or ask others to. My fear is that I forget that God commands reconciliation. Forgiveness, contrary to the old adage, does not include forgetting. It means faithfulness. And, quite honestly, I’ve got no call or business to forgive anyone. However, it is my call or business to reconcile, and it takes a nation to accomplish such a task.

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