Let us remember, heal, learn, choose, and act.

Remembering

Any of us over thirty years old remembers where we were on September 11, 2001. Like our elders who remember Pearl Harbor and President Kennedy’s assassination, current generations will always be marked by that infamous day.
Evil became visible that day. We saw its face in the terrorists.
We saw its deadly scars on 2,819 innocent people and their loved ones.
We have watched its echoes across a score of years that have become more vigilant and less trusting.
Besides the victims in the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, so much else died on September 11th. Innocence died; universal trust died; unconditional acceptance died. And with their loss, our national soul was put in jeopardy.

Healing
But within a few hours of the attacks, we saw the human spirit raise its head. Acts of
tremendous courage, love, support, and generosity became the new face of September 11th. A dormant patriotism was unfurled in millions of flags across America. Who will ever forget how KIND we became to one another when faced with the reality of one another’s loss.

Learning
And so, all indications to the contrary, we learn even from the darkest evil. Throughout history, good people have learned from bad things. Consider these magnanimous leaders:

The Holocaust:

In spite of everything, I still believe that people are truly good at heart….that
this cruelty too will end…

Anne Frank, who died in a Nazi concentration camp

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War:

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final
sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Forces, World War II

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Institutionalized Slavery:

I had reasoned this out in my mind, there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other.

Harriet Tubman, formerly enslaved woman who navigated the ‘Underground Railroad

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Choosing
What have we learned from September 11th and who will we choose to be as a result of our learning? All of us want a better world for ourselves and for our children. We want less fear and more trust. We want less struggle and more peace. We want less tension and more
freedom. What we want will never come to us unless we choose to live it into being.
Leading such change requires great bravery. Mahatma Gandhi said this, A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.

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Acting
So, on this 22nd Commemoration of September 11th, let us be brave enough to change the world. Courage and kindness stand side by side because they both require self-sacrifice. As a way of healing and remembering, perhaps we could do one act of anonymous, unrewarded kindness.
Do it to make the world kinder, to contribute to a legacy for the future, to send a message that evil never triumphs, and to honor the lives that were lost on September 11, 2001.

Some ideas that won’t cost you much (from helpothers.org):

• Treat someone to a cup of their favorite coffee
• Pay the toll for the person behind you
• Write a note of appreciation to someone
• Smile from your heart when you meet people.
• Greet others when you pass them.
• Buy flowers for someone who is having a rough time.
• Call someone who lost a friend or beloved recently
• Leave a good book out for others.
• Instead of following normal tipping etiquette, leave a little extra.
• Be kind to someone who isn’t always kind to you.
• Pay someone’s expired parking meter.
• If you experience great service, compliment the worker and tell their manager.
• Give sincere compliments whenever you can.
• Leave the coupons you didn’t use at the register for someone else.
• Spend time with people who might be lonely and just need to talk.

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