Flight 93 Memorial: Remembering the Fallen

"It was a beautiful Septeember morning with a blue sky....just a normal day."  Joy Knepp, teacher, Shnkasville-StoneyCreek School
Caption at the Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville, PA. The beautiful September morning was a normal day, until the plane came down in a field.

Of the four aircraft hijacked on September 11, 2001, United Airlines Flight 93 is the only one that did not reach the hijackers’ intended target, presumed to be the Capital building in Washington, DC. Several passengers and crew members made cell phone calls from the plane and learned about the attacks on the World Trade Center. As a result, the passengers and crew members decided to mount an assault in order to retake control of the aircraft from the hijackers. The plane crashed in a field in Stonycreek Township about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northwest of Washington, D.C., killing all 44 passengers and crew members, including the four terrorists. (Wikipedia)

concrete walkway and walls with people walking through on a sunny fall day at Flight 93 memorial, Shanksville, PA
Flight 93 Memorial entrancep
Shadow, lines and representing the entrance to Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville, PA
Shadow, lines and representing the entrance to Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville, PA.

Written in 1901…….”On one occasion, when in New York City, I was in the night season called upon to behold buildings rising story after story toward heaven. These buildings were warranted to be fireproof, and they were erected to glorify their owners and builders. Higher and still higher these buildings rose, and in them the most costly material was used. Those to whom these buildings belonged were not asking themselves: “How can we best glorify God?” The Lord was not in their thoughts.  

I thought: “Oh, that those who are thus investing their means could see their course as God sees it! They are piling up magnificent buildings, but how foolish in the sight of the Ruler of the universe is their planning and devising. They are not studying with all the powers of heart and mind how they may glorify God. They have lost sight of this, the first duty of man.”  

As these lofty buildings went up, the owners rejoiced with ambitious pride that they had money to use in gratifying self and provoking the envy of their neighbors. Much of the money that they thus invested had been obtained through exaction, through grinding down the poor. They forgot that in heaven an account of every business transaction is kept; every unjust deal, every fraudulent act, is there recorded. The time is coming when in their fraud and insolence men will reach a point that the Lord will not permit them to pass, and they will learn that there is a limit to the forbearance of Jehovah.  

Entrance to Flight 93 Memorial. Abstract utilizing light and dark.
Entrance to Flight 93 Memorial. Abstract utilizing light and dark.
Rows of benches at crash site of Flight 93 under blue skies.
Rows of benches at crash site of Flight 93.

The scene that next passed before me was an alarm of fire. Men looked at the lofty and supposedly fire-proof buildings and said: “They are perfectly safe.” But these buildings were consumed as if made of pitch. The fire engines could do nothing to stay the destruction. The firemen were unable to operate the engines.  (White, Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 9, 12-13.2)

Walkway along the backside of Flight 93 leading to the crash site. Grass and trees border the right-hand side all against a backdrop of blue skies.
Walkway along the backside of Flight 93 leading to the crash site.

2 responses to “Flight 93 Memorial: Remembering the Fallen”

  1. Beautiful Day ..

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