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May 10, 2009 - The Buzz Heard Around The World

by Father Edward L. Beck, C.P.

It was the buzz heard round the world. Well, at least heard in New York, as a plane came perilously close, buzzing city skyscrapers and sending shivers down our collective spines. Turns out it was a very misguided photo op planned by the Defense Department to get a picture of Air Force One against the New York skyline. It cost about $350,000, and probably a few people their jobs. As Jon Stewart said, didn’t these brain trusts ever hear of Photoshop? Now dumb as the stunt may have been, what impressed me was the way our collective memory kicks into gear during such events. People gathering outside office buildings talking about the last time this happened when the results were much more devastating. Just when we think all of the lessons of 9/11 have been lost, they’re brought back in the flash of a menacing shadow. Funny how pivotal experiences in our lives return to us when similar circumstances occur. That’s probably the greatest gift of faith and community. Remembering our collective experience, good and bad, and how God has walked the journey with us. And how we’ve walked it with one another. I’ve heard people who lived through the Great Depression talk about how the current economic crisis brings them right back there. But more than bringing them BACK, the memory that we got through it brings them FORWARD. We do that for one another as a community, together. And that’s what you call GOOD BUZZ.