Dates never forgotten…

This is the week September 11, 2001 comes up - we remember.  What dates are never forgotten for you?  

In the novel, A Tale of Two Cities © is the contrast, “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times…” both occurring at the same time.  For many Americans, 9/11/2001 seems like a demarcation point between the best of times before that morning and the worst of times after.  That’s when terrorism literally collided into freedom.

Do you remember where you were when news and the images of the planes crashing into the World Trade Centers in New York City were broadcast?  I always will.  In a flash Americans were once again going to be tested on what we can endure during the worst of times. 

December 7, 1945 tested my parent’s generation; October 29, 1929 tested my grandparents’.  On a more personal level April 20, 1999 was the worst of times in my town. 

It’s amazing what we can accomplish during the best of times; and what we must endure during the worst of times.  And “must” we must.  The bad times help us appreciate and enjoy the good times.  Here’s what Ernest Hemingway said: 

Life breaks us.  And when we heal, we’re stronger on the broken parts. 

Our ability to gain strength from adversity should come as no surprise, though.  Our ancestry is made of up generations who were broken; endured; and then grew stronger. Is today’s adversity caused by gun violence, racial injustice, and other calamities akin? 

For those who did not suffer a direct loss of loved ones from the recent Covid pandemic, our hardships still come in the form of inconvenience and economics.  It’s more arduous today to keep up; we continue to hear "supply chain disruptions"; housing prices are almost unreachable.  Things we once dreamed of seem further from our grasp than ever.  Our available resources are nearing the breaking point. 

But for America, that’s nothing new.  Our country has been near the breaking point; on the brink; and healed back stronger for as long as we have been a country.  Was the suffering from the Revolution; Civil War; Korea; Viet Nam; the Civil Rights Movement, or any other national, local, family, or personal crisis less hard? 

We are again facing threats to our way of life; and indeed many of our life’s ways need to change.  We are strong enough to face these threats because we come from generations of strength - families who struggled to make for this country, for their loved ones, and for themselves the best of times.  Like past generations, Americans today will have to re-earn the better things in life.  Perhaps we should start by re-learning what those better things are: 

To really enjoy the better things in life, one must first have experienced the things they are better than. 

Oscar Holmolka 

We’re better off remembering the better things like the day an American walked on the moon, or the night the men's Olympic hockey team won the gold medal to Al Michaels’ famous words, “Do you believe in miracles?”  Our favorite Unknown Sage reminds us: 

The First Rule of Life: 

The best things in life aren't things.                    

America endured and grew stronger by overcoming those life-changing events known as 9/11; Black Tuesday; Pearl Harbor; Columbine; and others.  Today once again American must endeavor to endure; overcome; and re-unite. 

We will succeed, too… because we have never forgotten.                               

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.