09/12/2024
I struggled yesterday remembering the day, I did not lose anyone on this tragic day, I did hear of others who had. As a Nation we lost so much that day and in the years after as we went to war and lost more Americans in that fight as well as injured soldiers who came home.
When a good friend called and woke me to tell me what was happening and to turn on the TV, I was not quite awake and when she said "THEY'RE ATTACKING US" my first though was aliens, I know, interesting how our imagination works. As I turned on the TV the first tower collapsed and the second plane had just hit. I watched in Horror and it was hard to comprehend what was happening. That time in my life was also in turmoil and chaos and I was already scared of what choice I had made and what my future would be. This probably lead to my shock, fear and actions to simply freeze and not know what to do. Telling our stories of that day are a way of helping us remember and remind ourselves of what is and should be important.
Actions and choices have consequences, that day changed all our lives in this Nation and the world, whether we lost loved ones or not. Life is a journey of lessons, the most important part of this fact is that we work to grow, improve and not repeat the poor actions and choices allowing the lessons offered, to create opportunity and help us grow and improve. I am not sure I can ever understand a countries choice and a humans' choice to execute such a horrific action as the terrorists who hijacked the planes that day, they obviously believed in their cause to know they would die that day for it. That topic is a whole other discussion about religion I will not address in this post.
As a Nation today we seem to be more divided 23 years later. On the days following this horrific event, as a Nation we pulled together, there was a deep sense of sadness, fear and shock at what occurred. Today we are deeply divided on so many issues as a Nation and "othering" mentality and division have filtered in as normal conversation.
This election is one of the most critical elections period for our Nation and its democracy and future is on the line. The beauty of this Nation vs the one who attacked us that day is we have a voice with our VOTE. Our voices can be clearly stated with our decisions on our vote. There is never a perfect HUMAN candidate in any election, history shows us this. Great presidents of our Nation still had imperfections and made hard decisions that not everyone agreed with. They had to make hard decisions and their values, character, life experiences, are what they utilized to make those decisions. For me I look to a candidates values, past experiences, actions and choices, past experience in being an elected official and how they speak to and treat others. VOTING IS A PRIVILEGE and hard fought for, especially for women and anyone of race, unfortunately. PLEASE VOTE and respect everyones right to vote as they choose. We may not agree on all things but we all are HUMAN.
I truly wish that one day we would become a strong species of HUMANS, with diverse talents, skills, passions focused on compassionate communications and improving our entire HUMAN species and stop working to divide humanity.
Sadly I know this will not occur in my lifetime at the age of 61, I have more years behind me than in front of me. For me I will continue to improve my communication and actions to be as inclusive and kind as possible. I am far from perfect and catch myself frustrated with peoples choices and actions and out of fear speak with "othering". I can improve, that is the beauty of life, everyday is a new day, a new opportunity to start again and change our actions and choices and move closer to our best HUMAN self.
I believe with 8.2 BILLION humans on this earth, we were meant to connect, and help each other learn and grow and become our best selves. Tragic events like this should never be forgotten but we MUST learn and grow from them, and not allow it to divide us as a HUMAN species. Our actions should be more focused on bringing us all together not divide us. We should never forget but we should also improve and grow and reach out to support, accept, and help others who may need support and assistance rather then using "othering" communication and segregating them for their choices and vision.
