With the date 9/11 seared into our memories, we must remember and make a difference on our individual life journey for our country and its future. Certainly this 10th anniversary provided us with an opportunity to reflect on the past and project for the future. In an emotional, two-hanky remembrance service at Torrey Pines Christian Church in La Jolla, Pastor Spitters welcomed new visitors and regulars to the Sunday service on Sept. 11. He talked about the need to be hope bearers, peacemakers and people of forgiveness. In “Give pacifism a chance,” an Aug. 27 New York Times opinion editorial by Louisa Thomas, the author said: “Those who are on active duty — less than one percent of the population — and their families bear most of the burdens [of war].” She went on to point out how easy it would be for unending war to become a reality. As Thomas writes, with the advent of sophisticated “intelligence gathering and weapons technology like drones, the government can use deadly force without popular support or approval,” granting the president exceptional power. “But war,” she continued, “has a way of coming home, eroding our democratic culture as well as our safety.” Two locals who have borne the burden and made a difference after 9/11 are Christine and Tom Johnson. The couple shared their stories with the people gathered at the Torrey Pines church on the 10th anniversary of the tragedy. A young retired Navy captain, Tom grew up in Pacific Beach and graduated from La Jolla High. Christine, who grew up on Long Island, is a Navy captain-select and pediatrician overseeing all Navy pediatricians. She just returned from a six-month humanitarian cruise to the Far East after serving earthquake victims in Haiti in 2010. The parents of three little girls lived through 9/11 to tell their story 10 years later in a church full of people, where the American flag was carried in and out by four firemen from Station 8, a bagpiper’s cry of “Amazing Grace” filled the air and a band of young people sang and played “A Bridge Over Troubled Waters.” Tom joined the Navy in 1987 after college. He participated in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm in 1990, earned his MBA at UCLA in 1991 and was in the Reserves from 1994-96. In 1996, he interviewed with Goldman Sachs in the World Trade Center. It was late in the day after earlier interviews and Tom talked to the interviewer about the 1993 truck bombing of the building. Tom told him “it would probably happen again.” While Tom didn’t take that job in Manhattan, he chose to re-enlist as an officer in Navy intelligence and was in Japan in 1997 and 1998 where he met Christine. On Sept. 11, 2001, Tom was assigned to intelligence work in the Pentagon. Working in his office, he dealt with classified information. Christine was working at Bethesda Hospital in Maryland. Tom talked about the surreal feeling of seeing CNN’s coverage of the Twin Towers being attacked before finding himself running out of the Pentagon after the third plane took out the area on the other side of the building. The irony that one minute he had all that military information at the tip of his fingers and the next he was in a muddy forest with no knowledge of what was happening was not lost on him. For what seemed like an interminable amount of time, Christine and Tom were unable to make contact with each other. Christine learned about the Pentagon hit and finally got Tom’s cell phone call. Fear tore through them both as it must have for so many couples in the military, fire departments, police departments and those glued to television. Many were not as fortunate as the Johnsons. Once Tom and Christine reached their Virginia home, they embraced on their porch for a long time. Their neighbors were supportive. The year following the horrifying experience, there was an anthrax scare and after that, snipers were shooting people in the D.C. area. Going for a jog became dangerous. Life had turned upside down for the Johnsons and all Americans, but Tom and Christine learned many lessons. What have they taken away from their years serving the country during a tumultuous time? Tom counted off six things he has etched in his psyche: take nothing for granted; be ready; each day is a gift; travel light; trust in family; trust in God. The Torrey Pines Christian Church congregation gave Tom and Christine Johnson, both wearing Navy formal dress whites, a standing ovation and a promise to make a difference — not just on 9/11 but on each day — by working for forgiveness and peace and by being that bearer of hope.