The truth in the tragedy.
It doesn’t seem like it’s been 17 years, and yet in some ways it feels like another world; another life away. The liquid nature of time is strange like that; sometimes a trickle, sometimes a torrent, and sometimes a tsunami.
As I take time today to reflect back onto the events of that day, I am reminded of the truths that became apparent in the aftermath of events too terrible to envision, and too traumatic to ever forget.
Out of the trepidation and the tragedy, truths arose that cannot be ignored, and that shone a light on the true nature of who we are, and what we can become.
In the immediate aftermath of that day, there were some who were moved to anger, some who were moved to sadness, some who moved in the direction of fear, and some who found themselves drawn into kindness.
As the horror rolled over us, it washed away many of the facades that we cling to, and in doing so, exposed our true emotional environments for all to see. It also became a huge lens for each of us to focus through, that we might find a way to interpret the day into the emotions that we seek.
And so the first truth was revealed; that the same event can have very different meaning to all of us, especially those who prefer to feel rather than think. That in every event, there is a choice as how to interpret meaning, if we will only prepare ourselves and our minds to choose wisely.
That even in the most tragic of days, when time seems dark and life seems too terrible to go on living, there is still a choice, even if only in the meanings we take from the madness of the maelstrom.
But there was a second, and greater truth in that tragedy, one that took a little longer to reveal itself.
As we mourned our dead, we as a people we moved collectively towards unity, towards the better sides of our nature; edging towards light as we eschewed darkness. In the days after that terrible day, we came together as we hadn’t done in many, many years.
The petty politics that so beset our times were for a short season removed from our discourse, and we allowed our common humanity to connect at a deeper level than we had for so long. Neighbor helped out neighbor, not for profit, or out of fear, but out of a recognition of all that makes us one, rather than that which would split us apart.
For a short time, as the events of September 11, 2001 eclipsed our light as a nation, we as a people produced our own illumination; millions upon millions of individual lights, leading us together out of the darkness.
And then the second truth was manifest. That we are good. Despite our individual flaws, our petty differences, our deepest fears and our darkest demons, we as a people are better together than we are apart.
As we pause today, to reflect on the trauma and the tragedy, please also reflect upon the truths evident from that terrible day, and have hope. Be the light in the darkness. Be the hope for the fearful. Be the kindness for the down trodden, and be the healing for those who are wounded.
For we are all better together.
May you pause today, reflect, and become brighter. Remember the fallen, and recover the lost.
May we move forward together, and find our own peace.
If this message has helped you today, please consider sharing so that we might help others together.
— Dr. Alan Barnes
@maddrbmusings