Just outside of our local library is a steel beam (pictured above) that was once part of one of the towers in the World Trade Center in New York. When I first saw the beam last year, it moved me. I touched the rusted metal almost so I could connect with the events of that day. Lately, I still see the memorial as I pull into the parking lot, but it doesn’t move me as often or as deeply as it used to. Sometimes, I don’t even notice it like I used to.
It some ways, haven’t you found that our reactions to what happened on September 11, 2001 have followed a similar pattern? Eleven years after the attack, there seem to be fewer flags flying in our neighborhoods. There are fewer cars with “God Bless America” bumper stickers. Perhaps we’re not as worried about another attack on our homeland as we were a decade ago. It seems to me that we are not as united as we were.
I guess things have returned to normal.
It some ways, haven’t you found that our reactions to what happened on September 11, 2001 have followed a similar pattern? Eleven years after the attack, there seem to be fewer flags flying in our neighborhoods. There are fewer cars with “God Bless America” bumper stickers. Perhaps we’re not as worried about another attack on our homeland as we were a decade ago. It seems to me that we are not as united as we were.
I guess things have returned to normal.
Yet, do you remember how you viewed things in the days after 9/11? Did you find yourself feeling more connected to the people around you, even if you didn’t know them? Did you find that you wanted to volunteer more?
Did you start going back to church? Maybe you started praying more . . . or praying for the first time. How many phone calls did you make to people that you grew distant from?
Perhaps you were one of many who decided that life was too short to be stuck in a job you didn't like. Maybe you had a dream that you kept on the shelf for far too long that you decided to finally pursue. I knew of people who said that they wanted to slow their lives down and really enjoy the moments they were given.
I think a lot of people realized that there was so much in their lives that was missing. I think people saw that in their quest to pursue the “good life” they may have missed out on living their own lives. I think many people realized that in their efforts to take care of the urgent, they pushed aside the important. In trying to “fit in” they lost a sense of who they were.
If the lessons you learned faded away, or got shelved amidst the return to “normal,” remember, it’s not too late to pick up the ball again. It’s not too late to tell yourself, “Let’s Roll!”
In memory of the men and women who lost their lives on September 11, 2001.
Did you start going back to church? Maybe you started praying more . . . or praying for the first time. How many phone calls did you make to people that you grew distant from?
Perhaps you were one of many who decided that life was too short to be stuck in a job you didn't like. Maybe you had a dream that you kept on the shelf for far too long that you decided to finally pursue. I knew of people who said that they wanted to slow their lives down and really enjoy the moments they were given.
I think a lot of people realized that there was so much in their lives that was missing. I think people saw that in their quest to pursue the “good life” they may have missed out on living their own lives. I think many people realized that in their efforts to take care of the urgent, they pushed aside the important. In trying to “fit in” they lost a sense of who they were.
If the lessons you learned faded away, or got shelved amidst the return to “normal,” remember, it’s not too late to pick up the ball again. It’s not too late to tell yourself, “Let’s Roll!”
In memory of the men and women who lost their lives on September 11, 2001.
