[09-11-2018] “We All Know”: Lost Lessons – Victoria, BC

17 years ago today, people got on planes, people went to work. They were businessmen, business women, pilots, firefighters, paramedics. It was just another morning. A random Tuesday in the middle of a year that had not been all that much different than any other.

And then, in the space of a breath, in the space in between one heartbeat and the next…everything changed.

We all know what happened in New York. We all know where we were that split second when the world changed.

But do we really…

Those images are emblazoned on the backs of our eyelids, in the shadows of our hearts. We have used those images over the years to fuel so many things, but mostly it seems that we have used them to fuel anger. And fear. I have said before that there need be no more attacks on our world, because those who launched that attack have accomplished what they set out for – they have filled us with fear, and from fear was born anger, and from there was born the course to tear us apart.

It could have brought us together. But we somehow seem to have missed that.

Or maybe we didn’t.

Maybe not all of us did.

We all know what happened in New York, in the space of that heartbeat.

But how many of us know the other stories, how many of us truly remember the feeling of outpouring support, of positivity, of universal love even when we so seldom all get along. How many of us have chosen to focus on the kindness we saw in those early days, when the world was grieving, when we were all standing as Americans – even those of us who held totally different passports. Focus on that, focus on the donations people made, the love the world expressed for the people who were lost and the families that remained, the firefighters who braved the smoke and the charcoal and the flames to make sure that even though many were lost some were saved.

And remember the people like those in Gander, Newfoundland. A tiny Canadian town, now brought to the world stage, because they were kind. As the musical based on the story now says “5 days, 19 animals and 7,000 strays!”.  But they weren’t the only ones. All over the western world, thousands of people were grounded when the airspace closed, and there were thousands of people who took them in.

We all know what happened in New York, what happened in the space of that breath.

We know that we saw humanity at it’s worst that day, we saw tragedy and horror, and we lost so much of our innocence.

But we are all so quick to forget that we also saw humanity at it’s best.

It doesn’t have to take a tragedy to bring out the best in us. It shouldn’t take a tragedy. It too often does, but it shouldn’t.

17 years later…I think the musical does put best:

We honour what was lost. But we also commemorate what we found.

Ask yourself, whenever you have the chance, the people that were lost, the people that continue to be lost because of this overwhelming anger that is sweeping over the world – what would they want. Yes, I’m sure there are a few who would perhaps clamour for vengeance, but I think for the most part, those people – our loved ones, our lost, our mourned – they would not want more blood. Vengence serves nothing but to feed on itself. Live your lives in the way that honours those who have left, live your life in a way that would make them smile, would make them proud, would make them feel that what they gave up – or what was taken from them – actually made a difference.

Whether it’s for those lost on planes, those lost in gun violence, for the Florida 49, or just for the sake of wanting the world to be that little bit better…

It doesn’t have to take another tragedy to bring humanity to its best.

17 years later…we all know what happened in New York…but it’s beyond time that we started to learn the right lessons from it.