All We Really Have
It was a picturesque morning in late summer. The sun was shining.
The air was crisp and clear. Life was good.
And then, something happened.
Within minutes, our outlook on the world, our communities, and our families changed -- forever.
In the blink of an eye, what was considered invulnerable became
vulnerable. What was safe was now dangerous.
No one could have expected it. No one could have even imagined it.
Cries of "Pearl Harbor" echoed on the television and among friends and families on the phone.
A new generation of Americans had suddenly discovered what it must have been like for their parents and grandparents -- only this time, it was worse.
Social and political commentators, journalists, and military experts
were at a loss. No one knew what to say or how to react. The world came to a grinding halt as the shocking news spread and people found themselves paralyzed with confusion.
Beyond the destroyed buildings of crushed metal and glass, there were the countless victims. Innocent people who were killed or injured over issues they knew little or nothing about.
There was no sense to it. No explanation. No easy enemy. Those
responsible were unknown and unseen. Bombs weren't used -- the weapons of choice were civilian passenger planes laden with fuel.
The horrifying and surreal scenes of destruction have done two things.
Yes, they have made us sad. But more importantly, they have helped -- no, they have forced -- us to put our lives in perspective.
What seemed so important on Monday, seems so insignificant today.
Within a few short hours, our thoughts and priorities shifted. Oh,
the world will keep spinning, however, our minds and spirits have been transformed. The things we took so seriously, the things we stressed about, argued about, worried about -- all of those personal issues that were consuming us -- are hardly noticeable now. The things we believed constituted a "crisis" before turned out to be nothing more than trivial.
As parents struggle to explain this to their young children, thousands
of American families will be attempting to do what they think is impossible -- putting their shattered lives back in order.
Americans will come together and the massive response will show our true colors as a nation. Our government and volunteer resources will unite in the rescue efforts. Citizens from every walk of life will respond in droves to Red Cross blood drives across the nation. And we will see stories about ordinary people who did extraordinary things to help and save complete strangers during this devastation -- true angels who spread their wings of safety around those who were caught in a web of terror. Heroes will abound and prove, as always, that good can, and will, overcome evil.
But why? Why does it take a tragedy of this magnitude to remind us what's really important? Do we have to lose so much to understand?
Why does it take a catastrophe for us to appreciate what we otherwise take for granted? I don't know. I only know that we will look at the world differently. Maybe we will be more cynical, more careful, more determined to seek the truth.
Regardless, we will look at our friends and family with a new eye -- more loving and forgiving, less judgmental and with the total realization that we only have each other for a finite period of time.
That's the ultimate truth.
Because all we really have is each other, our freedoms, our faith, and the hope that our painful path to recovery will allow us to shape a peaceful world for our children.
-- Lee Simonson, Publisher
It's amazing to read this and know that it was written
on September 11. So much of it has come true.
Lee Simonson is the publisher of Heartwarmers.
Please visit the Heartwarmers site.
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