I wasn’t going to write a post today, because I am not one of those people who had my life or loved one lost 10 years ago today.
But one thing I was surprised – and heartened – by is that many are looking back with tales of how this tragic event spurred people to change their lives, and create amazing new things. The awfulness of the day made some of us remember that life is too short to waste not chasing your dreams, not making your life – and the lives of those around us – better.
When I think about these last 10 years, which feel like an eternity to me, I don’t think I’d have had the foresight to see the woman I’d become today: happy, confident, faithful, peaceful, forgiving, forgiven, loved, surrounded by friends, certain of my worth. There were decades when I didn’t think any of those things were possible in my life. I have God to thank for that because He is bigger than people hiding behind violence and hatred. His Love is bigger than all that in spades, and today, I know that with a certainty I didn’t think possible either.
And of course, thanks indirectly to 9/11, and specifically by a brief acquaintance I made at the time, the biggest and best change in my life of all:
We should always remember this day, and all the people we lost, people who didn’t deserve to be robbed of life like this, heroes who went above and beyond the call of duty in a way many of us will never understand, and the many who suffered physically as a result of this event for whatever reasons. Those who lost loved ones, my heart goes out to you.
The terrorists maybe did something that will live on in infamy. Maybe. What Chris and I did after that – creating life in love – will live on in the spirit of love and joy.
Bad guys: 0, our family: 2.
Moving forward with love for our fellow man, hope in the promise of children, and faith that things can get better, that is the lesson we all need to learn from 9-11.
peace, my friends
