A Significant Date: 9-11-11

photo taken of a burned tree stump and a horizontal crack in the white ash in Yellowstone Park

forming a cross taken on 8-12

I am reading a new book, it begins with this paragraph:

"History is comprised of pretty tough stuff.
The neat contours we tell one another after the events are not actual history,
but myth attempting to explain what happened in hindsight. The more important the historical topic, the greater the tendency to replace the rough, contradictory, failings of the past with an overall message of triumph or redemption."
excerpt from the book, 'Passing the Heavenly Gift'

Terrible things have happened on September 11th. Some events we don't even want to talk about... nor want to uncover and accept the truth. The Mountain Meadow Massacre also occured on a 9-11 where men, women and children were murdered in cold blood. Tragic stories usually has 3 types of people involved.. a victim, a perpetrator, and many times, an unsung hero. The innocent and their family unfortunately suffer (even for generations) from the hands of  the guilty. Those who are responsible for such tragedies range from the unintentional to the deliberate...usually with an agenda motivated by power, greed and selfishness.

 We have many choices on how we will respond  when faced with tradegy. We can focus on our grief, sorrow and suffering on one hand, or the anger, pain, and revenge to satisfy the demands of justice on the other. Most of us, if not all of us, in our lifetimes have been the victim, but also the guilty of hurting someone else.

What we need is to heal... by repenting and forgiving.  Learning the truth is also very painful, but is required for the process. Uncovering the unflattering and unpleasant history which has been glossed over, denied and/or whitewashed is usually not what we prefer to do.   Unfortunately when we tell a lie enough times we begin to accept as truth.. and thus procrastinating our day of repentance.

May we remember and pray for the victims, forgive our enemies, and praise the unsung heros. The ultimate unsung "hero" is Jesus Christ whose Atonement satisfied justice for the guilty and gave mercy and comfort to the innocent. It is His name that I testify of.. the only one who has the power to save.

Sidenote... I was at church this morning and I happened to look down at my watch and it was 11: 11 on 9 -11-11. It was one of those Chaistic moments. (111191111)