From humble, hazardous beginnings, air travel is now a relaxed, reliable way to go, since planes carry so much fail-safe equipment.
So nowadays, as well as countless airborne military personnel, over a million people are soaring above the clouds 24/7, as temporary inhabitants of a virtual ‘city in the sky’.
It is sobering to recall that this week marks 24 years since the chilling 9/11 terrorist attacks that destroyed New York City’s World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon in Washington – without the culprits spending anything on weapons.
Thirty years of beefed-up airport security had stifled the plane hijacks of the late 60s, so no one could imagine airliners or passengers ever being weaponized.
We may fail to grasp the terrorist mindset. It accepts no view but its own and sees anything and anyone as a legitimate means of achieving its aims.
And with martyrdom as its ultimate reward, conventional weapons present no threat, despite how deadly these weapons may be.
The perpetrators never achieved their primary goal of destroying America’s economy.
But their evil brilliance, their plan, and their methods have ruptured our social cohesion by emphasising risks and creating a still unhealed wound.
Grounding flights nationwide was an immediate but temporary response, for life had to go on.
But because nobody is completely above suspicion, we now live with levels of anxiety and security that we once only associated with police states.
Community events were once relaxed and regular aspects of life, but anyone who organises them now faces mounting insurance premiums and risk assessment factors that were once barely conceivable, even laughable.
It is also getting harder to recruit volunteers for fear of legal implications that may arise from any potential accidents, which may be afterwards almost portrayed as intended outcomes.
Amidst this anxiety, we still have choices. We may submit to real or imagined threats. Or live like nothing really matters, since everything seems so vulnerable. Or ignore even the most basic security factors through blind faith.
That option might inspire some folks, but its self-promotion reassures nobody else.
We may lift people’s morale by recognising and spreading God’s love for them.
Through warmth, eye-contact, courtesy and gratitude, we may help them to discover their God-given respect and dignity.
For though God never promises us immunity from disasters, he promises to stay with us through them, so we may become agents of his healing and hope in the aftermath.
Noel Mitaxa
On behalf of a church near you, inviting you to explore God’s love
