Although this article will be published after the Sept. 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance, I wanted to discuss why remembering that day through service is so significant. Most of us who witnessed those events on that fall Tuesday morning have a clear memory of that day.
For me, I was in our kitchen watching my son and daughter eat their breakfast as part of their school morning routine. It was at this time when my wife called while working her shift as an emergency room nurse. She almost never calls during her shift which immediately caused me some concern.
She told me to change the channel to one of the news outlets where I then watched the rest of the events unfold.
As the official U.S. government website (https://americorps.gov/serve/volunteer/911-day) explains, the purpose of this day is to invite “Americans of all ages and backgrounds… to join and lead community service projects to honor the lives and service of those we lost on September 11. Cross divides, differences and ideologies to serve with neighbors and strangers alike to build important bridges in your communities.”
Serving others has a transformative effect on those who give their time and talents to someone else.
Atrocities like what we saw on 9-11 are often justified by reducing their victims to be less worthy or even less human than they. Service, on the other hand, helps us place someone else’s needs above our own and often allows us to see what we have in common and can create a personal connection with each other.
One of the central teachings of my faith is that “…when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God” (Mosiah 2:17).
As an example of this, in Strasbourg, France during World War Two, both hands of a statue of Christ were sheared off by a falling beam. When a local sculptor offered to replace them, the church leaders declined the offer. They felt that the statue without hands would be a great message to everyone that the work of God is often done through His people.
They later added a plaque at the base of the statue stating, “I have no hands, but yours.” This adds an even deeper meaning to any service we can give.
Service is the perfect antidote to what brought on these events 23 years ago. It bridges our differences by helping us to see what we have in common instead of focusing on what separates us.
I have even read where it can help with depression and improve our self-confidence.
Aside from that, it’s my belief that as we give of ourselves, God grants us the opportunity to feel some of His love for those we are serving and helps us to see that we are all a part of one family. Finding that commonality can hopefully start us down the road to reducing the hate we experience around us.
Mark D. Fullmer is Bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Gilroy Ward. He is an active member of the Interfaith Clergy Alliance of South County. Bishop Fullmer can be reached at [email protected].
