The Unseen Here and Now . . .

ARCHIVES

Stuart Revercomb

Stuart Revercomb is a marketing consultant and joyously married father of four children. He seems to remember someone once telling him he ought to be a writer. "The Unseen Here and Now" -- Thursdays.

E-MAIL

September 20, 2001

There Is Evil In The Garden

As Americans we have never really considered how close to the edge of evil we live. We have always been aware that there were some pretty bad things happening out there, but we never imagined in our wildest dreams that we were just a few thugs with small knives away from such unimaginable acts of terror.

4 routine flights lifted off like hundreds of thousands before them. 5 hours later 2 of the tallest structures in the world lay in ruins - beneath them the crushed remains of over 5400 innocent men, women and children. 265 more would soon perish as well in Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania.

Who could have possibly imagined it?

Who can imagine it now?

As several of us at work gathered around a television to follow the developing story we watched in horror as the first tower imploded upon itself. The view was shielded by the other tower that stood smoldering at the top like some giant snuffed out candle, but you could still see a massive cloud of debris mushrooming out from behind the other buildings.

If our minds had been at all open to the idea that the such a collapse was possible we would have immediately recognized it for what it was. But neither the 12 other people watching with me, nor the announcers on NBC wanted to state the unthinkable. Finally I turned to the others and said "I think either part or all of the tower on the other side has just collapsed." No one said a word. It was simply beyond belief.

One of the most extraordinary videotapes of the tragedy was recorded by a N.Y. doctor who had rushed to the scene to help after the collapse of the first tower. As he begins to make his way across the street a tremendous thundering sound is heard and the doctor aims his camera skyward. He is less than a block away. The second tower of the World Trade Center is coming down upon him and there is no place to go. The doctor retreats back across the street and continues filming for a moment as the massive cloud of debris comes roaring towards him. "I don't think I'm going to live through this..., he says. "I think I am going to die..."

He instinctively dives behind a car. As he does so the great storm of concrete, ash and paper sweeps over him like a tornado. It is pitch black. He calmly speaks so that the camera can record his voice. "I just wanted to come down and see if I could help someone...", he says. "I had no idea... I just wanted to see if I could help..." And then finally, "I guess I should have known the second one would fall too..."

The doctor would miraculously escape the barrage virtually unscathed, but his words have haunted me these last several days and now they seem strangely prophetic for America.

"I guess I should have known..."

We simply can not afford to make the same mistake again. As hard as it is to imagine the kind of hatred that could inflict such suffering upon the innocent, we had better grasp that it is real and present and wickedly able to carry out further attacks that would make the destruction of the World Trade Center seem like back page news. 100 pounds of anthrax could wipe out a city of millions in less time than it took to recover the black boxes in Pennsylvania. A small thermonuclear device in a parcel or suitcase could do likewise. Are there people in the world willing to do it?

I think we got our answer last Tuesday.

If you're having a hard time imagining that, try for a moment to remember your thoughts prior to noon on Tuesday the 11th. Could you really grasp the concept of the World Trade Center collapsing on a beautiful Tuesday in September as you and the rest of the world watched on T.V.? Consider the doctor who charged beneath the second tower even after he had just seen the first one fall. Such events are beyond our ability to fathom. But fathom them we must.

So what are we to do?

In the face of such tyranny and cold blooded disregard for human life we must act decisively and with the full courage of our convictions. Our commitment can be nothing short of total - our resolve complete. If our enemies are demanding a "Holy War", we may be obliged to give them one. But I suspect they will learn more of hell than the Holy.

There is nothing Holy about war.

But we must realize that the garden of creation has always had weeds - an historical evil that most of us would rather not think about. Such evil is active and working among us and usually in the form of things we would never consider. Other times it rides into history black and terrible and seething - born of confusion and sickness within the hearts and minds of but a few disillusioned men.

When it arrives we must pluck it out like the invasive weed that it is - but we must do so in a manner that does not facilitate the dispersal of it's seeds. Nor can we afford to damage the other plants that are struggling nearby. We must carefully consider the policies and circumstances that have allowed such evil to take root, and we must work to resolve the differences that have fed it's growth.

But more importantly we must realize that we can not do it alone. We must trust and be patient - allowing the light of the sun to reach those places that we most surely can not.

It will not be an easy garden to work in.

Thankfully the gardener is with us.