Around the world, we all have many days of remembrance at which we stop and consider our lives and those who have died in their name. Today I ask that all people, from all walks of life and all political, religious, or moral background stop and consider….
What happened, exactly, on this day 5 years ago? Do you remember exactly how people, you, felt? Listen to the voices in this video and you will remember.
What has been the response from those most closely affected?
And what has been the reaction to those (multiple) responses?
Today should be a day of truth, of honesty, of opening up to the possibility that some decisions after 9.11 were right and some were wrong. I feel one way to get at our most inner truths is to expose again memories where we felt most strongly the emotion of sadness. Sadness causes us to reflect upon ourselves. I believe 9-11 is one of those moments.
For if we truly wish to honour those innocent people who perished on this day 5 years ago… we must be willing to find fault in ourselves and work to make things right…. no matter how long it takes, or who is to blame, our only concern must be to the memory of those who perished and to ensure that never again the World, Muslim, Christian, Eatern, Western, need be so completely shocked, so mortified, so mournful as it was on September 11, 2001.
This is my response to my feelings of September 11, 2001.
I am saddened. I watched the video linked above and I suddenly felt the horror and disbelief that I felt on that day. 9.11 was like nothing else in the history of mankind. It was more like an asteroid hitting the planet than a military strike on an enemy. This event shook all of humanity, we all cried out in pain. For that split second when we all got that feeling, ancient borders and rivalries melted away.
I truly believe, in my heart of hearts, that even the most evil among us had that same feeling of shock and sadness.
Never before had all of humanity been confronted with something so deeply moving in real time.
In that split second, when the primal feelings of sadness and fear swept across us we became ONE.
In that instant, we truly were, a Global Village.
In that instant, we were suddenly stronger than ever before. In that instant, we made our judgements, not based on tired political, religious, or cultural mechanisms, but based our own internal, paternal, maternal feelings.
Suddenly, we cared for the all the worlds people, as we would our closest child or family.
It makes me wish that there could be an event like 9.11 everyday. So that everyday, we could have that feeling of limitless compassion, and of unbounded humility.. across nations and races. If we did, our world would be a much, much, better place.