Like so many of us, I have been giving a lot of thought to the upcoming anniversary of 9/11. I've been taking inventory of all of the changes I've seen around me - personally, locally, nationally and globally and what I see makes my heart heavy with sadness and grief.
After that horrible day, we immediately turned to each other for comfort, solace and strength – then quickly turned on each other...red states against blue states, co-worker against co-worker, employer against employee, friend against friend, country against country, rich against poor, and religions against each other.
I have witnessed all this - even bought into some of it- as if the emptiness, hatred and misguided brainwashing of those hijackers somehow gave us all permission to follow in their footsteps. One of the most powerful lessons I have learned from my Daddy is “Two wrongs don’t make a right.” Those men never have and never will represent their religion, their gender or any other decent demographic group of humanity. Yet, 10 years later, we continue to follow in their footsteps…blindly…willingly.
I don’t know much, but I do know that those 3,000+ victims and their families deserve so much more from us…as a nation, and as a people. Otherwise, the bravery, the sacrifices and the deaths have been in vain…otherwise, the terrorists have taken so much more than they ever dreamed of…they won both the battle and the war.
But I believe we are better…
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| © Caroline Zimmer Photography |
