It is a sad day of remembrance: September 11. On whatever day of the week it falls, it is a chilling day, filled with memories of killing, death, and injustice. In 2001 it was a day when human nature reached the lowest point of its humanity, almost equating with beasts, although sometimes even they show more delicacy and compassion.

A day when the myth of the invincibility and the unassailability of our country, America, was shattered and pulverized. In the heart of New York, the Twin Towers, symbols of our economic supremacy, collapsed and literally fell like paper towers, taking down with them three thousand innocent and unsuspecting people who left their homes that morning to earn their family’s daily bread and never returned.

The burning question that still haunts me, especially on this dark anniversary, is: What conclusions have we reached as individuals, as a country, as a society, and as humanity in general after that event? Memorials and commemorative thoughts are fine, but if we stop there, I feel that the real message is lost: when religiosity evolves into entrenched fanaticism, it loses all sense of judgment and reason, acting only with irrationality and frenzy.

It is comforting that at the site of the martyrdom stands today a symbol of love and peace, the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine, to remind us that innocent blood was shed in this place. And this blood will haunt the masterminds of this human sacrifice to their last days and beyond.

May the memory of our unjustly lost fellow human beings be eternal and unforgettable.