{"id":28608,"date":"2020-09-17T09:07:49","date_gmt":"2020-09-17T14:07:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/?p=28608"},"modified":"2020-09-17T09:07:54","modified_gmt":"2020-09-17T14:07:54","slug":"9-11-and-ground-zero-a-personal-recollection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/9-11-and-ground-zero-a-personal-recollection","title":{"rendered":"9\/11 and Ground Zero: A Personal Recollection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On the evening of September 10, 2001, I walked out\nof United Nations headquarters and returned to my nearby hotel after a long day\nof working with delegates and fellow NGOs at negotiations for the upcoming Special Session on Children, a\nfollow-up to the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The meetings\nhad become protracted and extremely contentious. Never, one delegate told me,\nhad he seen such divisiveness in the UN. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem\nhad carried forward from the CRC itself, a highly problematic treaty that became\na reality only after numerous countries registered serious reservations<\/a>\nover concerns later summarized by our founder, Dr. Allan Carlson: \u201cThe Convention\non the Rights of the Child contains measures that subvert the authority of\nparents over their children; strip away the authority of religious faith and\ntradition in favor of a politicized and radical social science; and prevent\nnations and peoples from sheltering their own unique cultures.\u201d Thus cloaked in\na document ostensibly dedicated to protect children, the CRC was in fact an attack\non their natural refuge and what the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirmed\nas \u201cthe natural and fundamental group unit of society,\u201d namely, the family. And\nnow as the UN prepared to follow up on the CRC, the contention was palpable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nnext morning on 9\/11 as I left my hotel and walked back toward the UN, I relished\nthe fresh air and crystal blue sky of that beautiful September day in New York.\nPerfect fall weather on a peaceful day, I remember thinking. Coming within\nsight of the building, I was surprised to see policemen and a large crowd\ngathered outside. It had been evacuated, people were saying, because a jet had\ncrashed into one of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, raising a\nsecurity concern at the UN. In the next few minutes, more uniformed officers continued\nto arrive until we were finally told that the building was closed for the day\nand we should all return home as quickly as possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nretraced my steps but continued past my hotel to 2nd<\/sup> Avenue, a\none-way street for southbound traffic. But instead of cars, there were hordes\nof people streaming north, some walking and others running. Their expressions\nof confusion and terror were unforgettable, as was the scene that loomed behind\nthem: a mushrooming cloud of smoke as if an atomic bomb had just exploded. America\nwas under attack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several\nweeks later on a return trip to Manhattan, I visited the site of the fallen\nTowers. The horrific devastation and stench were nearly overwhelming. Instinctively\nI reached for my cell phone and called my wife, trying to describe in subdued\ntones what I was feeling. As I spoke, I noticed that a colleague had likewise grabbed\nhis phone and was speaking with his wife. The coincidence struck me. In times\nof our greatest need and deepest emotion, it is to family that we instinctively\nturn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was only later that I perceived a further connection with family. Although the name \u201cGround Zero\u201d as it is applied to where the World Trade Center stood is derived from the term\u2019s definition as \u201cthe point on the surface of the ground at which the explosion of an atom bomb occurs,\u201d there is an alternate definition: \u201cthe very beginning: square one.\u201d In this sense, the family itself is our Ground Zero, both individually and collectively.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the\nyears since I stood at the site of the fallen Towers, I have looked back on\nthat experience as a kind of microcosm of what had transpired decades earlier.\nIn the wake of the global catastrophe known as World War II, when mankind\ncontemplated the horrible destruction, they likewise turned to family as the\nUnited Nations declared it to be society\u2019s natural and fundamental group unit. What\na tragedy that decades later, forces in the UN began undermining the family in\nthe name of rights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As to the Special Session on Children, I am happy to report that thanks to the valiant work of courageous colleagues and delegates, the text<\/a> that was finally agreed to contained language better than had appeared in UN documents for decades, including a commitment to \u201cthe enhancement of children\u2019s physical, social, emotional, spiritual and cognitive development\u201d (36(e)) and to take \u201cinto account the best interests of the child, consistent with national laws, religious and ethical values and cultural backgrounds of the people\u201d (37, chapeau). Months later at a UN meeting in Thailand, I heard the head of International Planned Parenthood Federation fume against those provisions and vow to recover the ground it had lost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As proponents of what has well been called the global sexual revolution continue their relentless campaign to undermine family, change marriage, and make children pawns of the state, we recall the warning of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie: \u201cThroughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.\u201d At this critical time, IOF is moving ahead as never before to unite and equip leaders worldwide to stand up and speak up as we all join in protecting the family, our Ground Zero. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the years since I stood at the site of the fallen Towers, I have looked back on that experience as a kind of microcosm of what had transpired decades earlier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":28831,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"In the years since I stood at the site of the fallen Towers, I have looked back on that experience as a kind of microcosm of what had transpired decades earlier.","format":"standard","video":"","gallery":"","source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override":[{"single_blog_custom":"","sidebar":"","second_sidebar":"","share_position":"","share_float_style":"","post_date_format":"","post_date_format_custom":"","post_reading_time_wpm":"","zoom_button_out_step":"1","zoom_button_in_step":"1","number_popup_post":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"","single_post_gallery_size":""}],"trending_post_position":"","trending_post_label":"","sponsored_post_label":"","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":""},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":""},"jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[510,695],"tags":[428,487],"class_list":["post-28608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family","category-opinion","tag-children","tag-united-nations"],"yoast_head":"\n9\/11 and Ground Zero: A Personal Recollection - IFN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/9-11-and-ground-zero-a-personal-recollection\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"9\/11 and Ground Zero: A Personal Recollection\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the years since I stood at the site of the fallen Towers, I have looked back on that experience as a kind of microcosm of what had transpired decades earlier.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/9-11-and-ground-zero-a-personal-recollection\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"IFN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/iFamNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-09-17T14:07:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-17T14:07:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/911-cross-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"E. 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Douglas Clark","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f01991614cc9086457280e0279d7da9c1c6dd2774eca1bf16e9e24005c6feb0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f01991614cc9086457280e0279d7da9c1c6dd2774eca1bf16e9e24005c6feb0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f01991614cc9086457280e0279d7da9c1c6dd2774eca1bf16e9e24005c6feb0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"E. Douglas Clark"},"description":"E. Douglas Clark is an attorney and Director of UN and International Policy at the International Organization for the Family. For two decades Doug has been on the forefront of defending the family at the United Nations as a lobbyist and strategist, leading teams and consulting with policymakers in New York and around the world. His writings include the World Family Declaration and articles in The Natural Family: An International Journal of Research and Policy and Ave Maria International Law Journal. After earning MBA and JD degrees from Brigham Young University, he practiced banking law and served as director of content of the original Law.com.","url":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/author\/dclarkifamnews-com"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28608"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28839,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28608\/revisions\/28839"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}