We
have a short attention span as a nation. We bore easily, get restless and want
to move on to the next thing. We respond to only the most shocking, and as time
progresses, we don’t shock so easily. We can watch our own citizens get
beheaded in foreign countries, a nine year old girl fire an Uzi perfectly legally
on U.S. soil, and we don’t blink. What does that say about us?
I’m
wondering how love and peace stand a chance today, when their impact is so
subtle yet profound, but their appearance doesn’t carry the explosiveness of,
say, a Bruce Willis movie.
Anyone
who was alive at the time can tell you where they were on 9/11/2001. It is indelibly
etched in our psyches. The horror. The fear. The overwhelming devastation. In a
moment of news footage, we can all remember exactly how we felt that day. And
for five minutes, we were all one human family – worldwide.
But
it’s thirteen years later now. And the lessons of unity on that day seem a
distant memory now. We’ve gone back to the divisiveness of our best economic
interests, the separateness of different religious faiths and practices, the
polarity of political parties. We’ve forgotten what the coming together felt
like. We’ve forgotten that we are our
brothers and sisters’ keepers. We prefer autonomy to compromise, judgment to
compassion.
It
is not a popular view to believe in non-violence, yet, when you ask anyone,
they would most surely say they want peace.
It
is not a popular view to say that love is the answer, but ask anyone, and they
will most surely tell you they abhor hatred.
This
world is a reflection of each one of us. There can be no experience that each
of us is not embodying the characteristics of on some level, even if it’s by
the sin of omission – the not speaking up, the not helping out, the deafening
silence when our voices are needed most.
Some
would argue it’s a fool’s errand to talk about peace and love in our climate of
war and hatred. Some would say it is not the time. But I think it is precisely
the time. In fact, there is no better time than right now.
No
matter what circumstances anyone in the world is living in at this moment, what
resides in our hearts and minds remains purely our own decision. Peace or
contentiousness, love or separation – these choices are ours.
Loving
those we disagree with at a core level is not an act of weakness; it is an act
of strength. Speaking out for peace is not cowardice; it is bravery. Case in
point: how many people are willing to do it?
September
11th is a sacred memorial only to the degree that we have become something
more or better because of it. So on this day of remembering, I send love and
peace from my soul to yours and healing to anyone who is hurting in any corner
of the globe.
Thank
you for stopping by.
Blessings
to you always,
Ilene
A great tribute for 9/11.
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