On each and every day there are things happening all around the world. Some people are born while others are dying. Great innovations are dreamed into being while historians carefully catalog antiquated mechanisms of our ancestral heritage. There are crimes committed along side acts of compassion that both rend and soothe the soul. So many things happen in the course of just one day that it boggles the mind.
On this day in 1941 ground was broken for construction of the Pentagon. In 1961 this day marked the opening of the first office of the World Wildlife Fund. If this were 1997, we would be hearing about NASA’s, Mars Global Surveyor reaching Mars after a 300 day journey covering 466 million miles, at almost 65,000 mph. But ever since this day in 2001, September 11th has been remembered for something very different. . .
It was on this day in 2001 that nearly 3,000 people lost their lives in what will live on in infamy among the worst of American tragedies.
The implications of this day in American history, would be difficult to overstate. In the aftermath our country and our culture would be forever changed. We sent our men and women to war, people took to the streets with signs, an unprecedented amount of new legislation was enacted, political affiliations shook and shifted, and the word ‘terror’ took a seat at the table in the national dialogue.
Most of us will never forget where we were and what we were doing when we found out the towers had been hit. We sat together as a nation, shaking with the anxiety as we watched the nightmare unfold in live footage before our very eyes. When the towers fell we were in shock. Every single person in those towers meant the world to someone. Every one of them had family and friends. Children depended on them. People loved them. . .
Each of those people woke up that morning with no idea that it would be the last time they ran through the morning routine; The last time they brushed their teeth; The last time they said goodbye with a little kiss on the cheek. Much more than buildings fell that morning. . . The memories will haunt us and the suffering of those sweet souls will always remind us of how precious and delicate a human life is.
We must remember.
Each life is a precious gift and in every moment we have the ability to really live that life and add to the love and joy in the world. In the gentlest of actions we can reach out with our heart and cross the boundaries of space and time. We can smile at someone we’ve never met like they are the most beautiful thing we’ve seen today. We can ACT in the world with love and compassion and simple kindness.
Sweet people, we all know that tragedy affects us all, but so does love! It is important to remember that every act of love is a gift to all of humanity. When you act with love you stand as a sentinel in the face of fear and hate. . . Every act of decency and kindness, shines like a candle where before there was only darkness.
Today I light a candle in my heart. I will let it shine through me into into every moment and every being that I come into contact with. I will do this in memory of those sweet souls who died without getting to say goodbye. I will share my love in this world in memory of those who can no longer share theirs.
Things happen that can make the world look very dark, but darkness only wins if we turn out all the lights. . .
Shine On!
Michael Sunspirit
