Where were you? Where were you on Sep. 11 in 2001? Most of us here remember where we were and what we were doing on the day that changed the country forever probably never be the same again. I was at the seminary in South Korea where the time is 13 hours ahead of here. So I heard the news from a presiding priest during the mass in the following morning. We all went to the TV room right after the mass. It was surreal for me to see the planes crashed into the World Trade Center and the building collapsed. Honestly it seemed another kind of Hollywood movie.
About two years after the tragedy, I came to the United States, the country of ultra-security and fear. I met a couple at St. Andrew Kim who lost their only daughter on Sep. 11. She graduated from the law school and just started working in the World Trade Center that made the parents very proud. After the horrific incident, the father almost became out of his mind and never talked to others. And I have also found out that after five years two-thirds of New Yorkers were still very concerned about another attack on their city. Nearly a third of them thought about Sep. 11 every day. Nearly a third had not gone back to pre-Sep. 11 routines and they were still dealing with changes caused by the attack. This is called “Trauma” the word means “wound.” In fact, traumatic events are shocking and emotionally overwhelming situation. The reactions are intense fear, horror, numbness or helplessness that can be one-time occurrences or ongoing like domestic violence. Unfortunately, traumatic events are quite common. In this traumatic situation, deep wounds, we cry out “Where was God? Where is God now?”