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Today's big news is, of course, the burning of the Notre Dame cathedral. The moment I heard the first report, I immediately thought of Notre Dame, Indiana, perhaps because I live only a few hours south of it. As I listened to the reports, though, I was confused by things like mentions of the Rue du Cloître-Notre-Dame. Then it dawned on me that I was hearing about the destruction of the great cathedral in Paris. And everything changed. I still remember waking up to the news of the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. (That distinction is necessary because there are others.) The plane had just hit, and my mind immediately went back to the day, long before my birth, when an Army B-25 bomber crashed into the Empire State Building. But there was heavy fog, resulting in zero visibility that morning. The morning of 09/11/2001 was clear and sunny. What could have gone wrong? Then I saw the second plane slam into the south tower at almost 600 miles per hour. And everything changed. And then came the reports of Muslims all over the world, including in the United States, celebrating in the streets, cheering 'their' blow against 'the Great Satan', the United States. My youngest, Dillan, said it best: "The burning of Notre Dame is a metophor for the decline of the west." Charlemagne must be turning in his grave. Is this a terrorist attack? Maybe. Maybe not. Is this yet another attempt by the Gadianton Robbers to steal the spotlight away from news they'd rather went unnoticed? Who knows? But there is something about this that is worth considering: Notre Dame also has two towers. And they are known as the north tower, and the south tower. If this doesn't awaken the heirs of Charlemagne to their awful condition, what will? |