Recently I watch “World Trade Center” on Netflix. I cried like a baby through the entire movie. It brought back so many memories of that horrific day. One of the families in the movie actually lived in Goshen, NY which was is in OrangeCounty NY (where I lived in NY). Sadly, our area lost a lot of people that day and I know each and every one of us has our own memories about that day.
As I continued to watch the movie, I just sat there mesmerized by the courage and strength so many people showed on that day! I watched as the Police and Firemen and so many others ran into the buildings in hope of saving lives without any regard to their own safety. I couldn’t help but think about the fact that on that day no one cared if someone was Republican or Democrat, black or brown or white, or whether they wore masks or no masks, vaccine or no vaccine. I tried so hard to imagine what that moment must have been like. I could not get my brain to process what it must have been like for all those who made that split-minute decision to go back into those buildings. Those were and are our TRUE HEROES.
Here we are 20 years later and I fear our country has lost its way. I don’t even think the average person truly understands what a hero is anymore. We worship self-proclaimed online influencers, sports figures, reality tv personalities, and quite frankly criminals. There is a scene in the movie where there is an unbelievably long line of police and firefighters passing down the board with the person they rescued on it. Each one telling the person to hang in there, we got you, talking to him by name, encouraging him to hang on. My heart literally hurt watching that scene, knowing that today those same police officers are so disrespected in that very same city. I wonder if those spreading all the hate even know, remember, or think about that day?
I remember when three firefighters hoisted the flag at ground zero after the Sept 11th attack. The flag was a symbol of pride. There was this feeling that, no matter what, we were all American’s and we would all get through this somehow someway together. Now I ask myself where have we gone so wrong. Where are the parents of these kids and young adults disrespecting our flag, our police, burning down our towns, destroying our businesses, and destroying our communities? I ask myself how such a symbol of hope (OUR FLAG) has somehow become a symbol of hate?
I ask myself where are all the true leaders? Why are we not trying to bring communities together? Recently I watch “The Best of Enemies” I highly recommend it! I was a movie on Netflix. It is about a summit on school integration in North Carolina in 1971 that pitted civil rights activist Ann Atwater against Ku Klux Klan leader C.P. Ellis and the unlikely friendship that followed. Bill Riddick is an African-American expert mediator that they bring in to help resolve the issue. It was absolutely incredible! I kept wondering where are all the people trying to bring all of us back together???? Where are all the Bill Riddick’s of the world?
Each day my mind travels from thought to thought. I miss the world I once knew. Before I know it I am at the end of my day. There I sit in stillness my mind becomes clear. It is at that moment that I am told not to allow myself to feed into the fear and hatred that so many others are using to feel empowered. I am reminded that each and every day I can choose to be part of the solution or part of the problem. I am reminded that some are so lost they can’t even see their hate. I am told that, that it is okay. I am reminded that Inside them is the same light that is inside of me. It is the same light that is within all of us. I am told to focus on shining my own light and I ask you to do the same. It is in that moment that I am reminded to have faith, to believe in that which I cannot see. I am told to trust that there is a plan. I am told to focus only on love.
This month we remember all of those who were lost in the World Trade Center, The Pentagon, and those on Flight 93. We remember their families, their friends, and all of us who were forever changed on that day, Sept 11th, 2001.
I ask each and every one of you to take a moment to share this with someone who needs to read it. I ask each of you to take a moment this month to remember, to release hate fear, and judgment, to reach out in a positive way to those with whom you disagree, and most importantly I ask you to spread love instead of hate.
Movies:
World Trade Center (2006) with Nicolas Cage
The Best of Enemies (2019)