“What separates us from the animals, what separates us from the chaos, is our ability to mourn people we’ve never met.”
David Levithan
19 years ago today our world changed forever. 2,966 people died on 9/11/2001 and over 6,000 were injured. If you are old enough to remember then you know exactly where you were and what your were doing when you learned what had happened.
We should have the same degree of empathy for all those with whom we share our world. Only then are we truly human…
“For me and my family personally, September 11 was a reminder that life is fleeting, impermanent, and uncertain. Therefore, we must make use of every moment and nurture it with affection, tenderness, beauty, creativity, and laughter.”
Deepak Chopra
We should live every day with this realization. It is just so easy to get caught up in living a life that is over the horizon waiting for something else to happen. Every moment of life in this current moment in time is the one that truly matters.
I was thinking about this over the past weekend as I was watching my children play together. Being aware of the way their laughter sounded, the games they were playing, how they interacted together. It struck me that at that moment this would be the only time they ever did those exact things. The next time it would be different because they are always growing and changing and learning. They are never the same from day to day because life is never the same. Change is constant.
I write about this today because 9/11 is such a reminder of what is truly previous, valuable and meaningful in this world. Enjoy each moment, take nothing for granted and celebrate all the beauty. Life is impermanent, and when you take it for granted you miss the opportunity to truly live…
“If we learn nothing else from this tragedy, we learn that life is short and there is no time for hate.”
Sandy Dahl, wife of pilot Jason Dahl, who was flying United 93 (2002)
It is hard to believe it has been seventeen years since the world as we know it changed forever. 9/11 has been called the “Pearl Harbor of our generation” and even now, years later, it invokes an emotional response.
What I love about this quote is that it is timeless. “Life is short and there is no time for hate.” It applies no matter the day, no matter the season, no matter the challenge you are facing in life.
Life is short.
Wrestle with that in your mind for a few minutes. Life is short. Has it sunk in yet? It’s been seventeen years since we were so violently reminded that life is short. It has flown by in the blink of an eye. The next seventeen years will fly by too. How do you want to remember them?
“Life is short there is not time for hate.”