It was a bright, warm Tuesday morning. Work began just like any other day.
Finishing that second cup of coffee, I noticed a news article that said “plane flies into World Trade Center.” We assumed it was a small plane until we began to see the story unfolding.
On September 11, 2001, a series of coordinated terrorist attacks by 19 members of al-Qaeda killed 2,996 people by crashing two aircrafts into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon, and one, thanks to the heroic efforts of the passengers, crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
It’s one of those events that we all say will “change us forever.”
If you’re of a certain age, you’ve been through far too many of those events.
I for one, remember when we got the news about the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
In the aftermath of 9/11 we gathered in our places of worship, we stood in lines to give blood, we raised our flags.
For a while, these events seem to bring us all together. We talk of cooperation and patriotism. We talk of sacrifice and honor.
Then we get numb and go back to arguing about athletic shoes and Twitter again.
We don’t have to.
I hate the thought that it takes a crisis to bring us together. But, often it does.
I can’t fix it by my little blog post here. But, I can change the way that I act, the way that I respond.
To that end, I love the “unfollow” or “snooze” options on Facebook.
Take some time today to pause and to remember, and maybe to skip over that response on social media.
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