A week has passed since the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, giving us time for the meaning of the tribunes and commemorations to sink in. It was a horrible day that Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, when the airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania, killing more than 3,000 people. You probably remember where you were when it happened.
I remember some of the conversations that took place in the office during the immediate months after the attacks. There was a real sense of empathy for the people in the World Trade Center. These were just regular workers, like people in the labor force all over the country. These were moms and dads, single people and older people, who came to work on time, like any other day. They were doing their jobs, and then -- bam -- it was all over. The planes hit and that was it. Especially for those people in the tower struck by that first airplane, there was no warning. There was no opportunity to set your things in order, to say goodbye to loved ones, nor to prepare in any way.
Sudden death for so many people in an office setting got people thinking about big picture concepts in the context of the office. In my own office, many questions came up -- how could God allow this to happen? Is there an afterlife? What is the meaning of life if it can be taken away so suddenly? Was 9/11 some kind of punishment? These are great and important questions for anyone to ask themselves and to ask trusted friends, whether those people are family members or colleagues in the office.
Post 9/11 America is different from pre-9/11 America in a lot of ways. One small way that it is different is that I think we are now freer to talk about life's big questions in the office. This historic attack shows how vulnerable we are and how precious life is -- and this was shown in the context of the workplace, the office, not on the typical desert or jungle battlefield. I don't think you ever have to wonder whether it is okay to bring up a question about God in the break room at work. People are now more aware that life-altering events happen at any time. This opens the door to talk about the meaning of those events at almost any time.
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