World Trade Center: We Will Build Again
By J. James Estrada (08/15/06)
No, I haven’t seen the movie. I have seen, however, the empty space that used to contain the World Trade Center. The problem is that it is still an “empty space.” Terrorists win when they paralyze a society. Terrorists win when what was normal becomes something else. Terrorists win when an empty space becomes the focus of life; when it becomes an eternal valley.
New York politics has taken over the rebuilding effort in lower Manhattan. On the one hand, that is normal, on the other; the infighting has gone on for far too long. When the WTC went down and with it the lives of thousands of innocents and hundreds of brave rescuers, it became a matter of national importance. President Bush stood on the sight, the smoke still smoldering, and declared that the people who did this would hear from ALL OF US soon.
Five years later, the Taliban has been vanquished, and al-Queda has had its leaders captured or killed. So what about Osama bin Ladin? He is now a cave dweller. Unfortunately, we are all cave dwellers as long as we are held hostage to the political machine that fails to build again from the ruins. In mythology, The Phoenix bird rose from the ashes. In the State of New York, the eagle still has its wings clipped.
Isaiah 40:31 says: “…but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.”
What we need to accomplish this great task is a visionary who will not fear to “soar”. Once the vision is in place, we can then “run” with it; and then, and only then, can we “walk” like we once walked: as proud Americans.
Does New York have such a visionary? Or should this mission be carried on from somewhere else? Where? Perhaps President Bush should appoint a rebuilding czar. This is so critical it warrants national attention and demands an answer that all Americans need to hear: We Will Build This Place Again.
As for Bin Ladin and the mountain dwelling he calls home, here is a word to you from the same chapter of Scripture listed above:
A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the LORD;
make straight in the wilderness
a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
And the glory of the LORD will be revealed,
and all mankind together will see it.
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
J. James Estrada
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