Come From Away

September 11, Minneapolis, and What Can Be

I almost cried at a performance this week. I know, many of you are actually in touch with your emotions and feel okay about tearing up at a performance, so you may be puzzled that I only “almost” cried. But, honestly, that is saying something for this Scandinavian American guy.

We saw an amazing production of Come From Away at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis this week. The musical is set in the small town of Gander in Newfoundland on September 11, 2001 and the days following. Gander - a town of about 9000 residents - welcomed and housed about 7000 travelers from all around the world after the horrible events of 9/11 shut down air traffic for days. And they did it with humorous Canadian understatement.

The writers, Irene Sankoff and David Hein, went to the 10th anniversary gathering in Gander in September 2011. They spent hours listening to residents of Gander and passengers who had landed there and stayed for days. Sankoff and Hein took the stories, sculpted them into a funny and poignant musical, and showed us a way of living hope in the midst of difference and challenge. On the 25th anniversary of 9/11, the musical is being performed all over the country because to younger people it is “history,” and to those of us who were alive, it is a crucial moment where the world changed.

Come From Away opened on Broadway in 2017. The musical shows the multiple ways people deal with tragedy and trauma. There is misunderstanding and suspicion mingled with generosity and graciousness. Laughter resounded through the audience as we absorbed the high energy dancing, powerful vocals, and heartfelt opportunities to wonder what could be. If only we learned from the response to violence with neighborliness, what could be?

One of the great lines of the musical was “Tonight we honor what was lost. But we also commemorate what we found.” 9/11 was a time of great loss, but the people in Gander for those days also found something truer. They found interconnectedness. Oneness despite differences. Our human needs for gathering - whether at a bar, or at BBQs to feed the stranded travelers, or in the library, church, and quiet spaces for prayer.

One point where I almost cried was the song “Prayer.” A lone gay tenor begins singing a song he remembered from long ago when he grew up in a church, based on Francis of Assisi’s gorgeous prayer. “Make me a channel of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me bring your love. Where there is injury, your pardon, Lord…” He is soon joined by a New York mother, then by Orthodox Jews singing shalom. Hindus and Muslims are added to the mix, singing of peace and unity.

As the voices from different cultures and different traditions weave together, we glimpse a way forward. It touched a chord in me.

In the past week, ICE murdered Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston and Joan Sebastian Duran Guerrero in Biddeston, Maine. The musical reminded me it does not need to be this way. We saw Come From Away in Minneapolis, which had witnessed the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in January. Here we are in July, still witnessing ICE violence and powerful protests to meet the situation. We need to share what the people of Gander, Newfoundland learned.

As we absorbed the powerful musical, we could not help but think of other instances where even more people were killed by hateful violence. Gaza came to mind quickly. How long will Americans accept the genocidal violence of the IDF?

Ukraine has faced devastating violence in the years since 2022. Dresden experienced firebombing in WWII. Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki in 1945. The Trail of Tears in the USA. You would think we could learn. But that is what art does - it draws us in and casts a vision of what can be. Even our jaded and cynical minds can be moved. Come From Away stokes our imagination.

The truth is, so many of us “come from away.” We are part of a humanity that is constantly on the move. My ancestors came from Denmark to the USA. Some came in the late 1800s, others in the early 1900s, and my mom in 1950. Indigenous people have been here in the US for thousands of years, but people keep moving around. We may all find ourselves in a group like those who landed at Gander in 2001. What would we discover?

I think we would discover more ways to connect than to divide. Fewer phones, less social media, more surprises. We can cultivate this attitude even now.

I almost cried. It sticks with me now, for sure.

Thank you for striving to be good humans. We need more of you. We need to honor what has been lost in 2026, and also to commemorate what we have found. If they could do it in Gander, they believed we could, too. We can build upon what we have found. We can learn the deeper truths that were clear as day 25 years ago.