{"id":5819,"date":"2020-09-11T21:51:29","date_gmt":"2020-09-12T04:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=5819"},"modified":"2020-11-21T22:29:17","modified_gmt":"2020-11-22T06:29:17","slug":"choices-of-unsung-heroes-victoria-bc-09-11-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=5819","title":{"rendered":"Choices of Unsung Heroes \u2013 Victoria, BC \u2013 [09\/11\/2020]"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

This artwork by Donna Grethen relates to the 10th anniversary of the 9\/11 attacks.<\/p><\/div>\n

When he left for work that morning
\nhe was just another guy going to work
\nHe\u2019d have to fly out to a meeting in LA
\nSo she had kissed him twice goodbye<\/em><\/p>\n

Little did she know she\u2019d kissed a hero<\/em>
\nThough he\u2019d always been one in her eyes<\/em><\/p>\n

~ She\u2019d Kissed a Hero<\/em><\/p>\n

You will never forget where you were.<\/p>\n

This morning I woke up to smoke choking the air of my little island, coming in on the wind all the way from Washington\u2026and I mentally checked my calender\u2026and suddenly\u2026it all came back.<\/p>\n

I remember so many moments of that day in flashes. How long it took to sink in, how much my brain spiraled when it did. How terribly deeply angry<\/em> I was for a while, because things like this weren\u2019t supposed to happen anymore<\/em>. The crackling of a battery operated radio in the university lobby, the shell-shocked expression of my classmates. The thought of \u201coh my god, this is it\u2026I\u2019m going to live through a world war\u201d\u2026bouncing around in my head. I have a soft fluttering not-sure-if-it\u2019s-real memory of wishing I could talk to my Gran. I\u2019m pretty sure I prayed\u2026and I\u2019m not a praying person.<\/p>\n

That feeling never really goes away over the years. And it doesn\u2019t feel like 19 years. Just like it didn\u2019t feel like 18, and it will not feel like 20. It will always feel\u2026in some way\u2026like yesterday.<\/p>\n

This morning, Amras and I went through a totally normal morning that was \u2013 at the same time \u2013 not normal. I looked at him over the breakfast table<\/p>\n

19 years ago\u2026I was just heading to university and I was crying. Where were you?<\/em><\/p>\n

I was calling my boss, someone had to tell him what was happening.<\/em><\/p>\n

I sat there for a moment, and I thought \u2013 as I so often do on this day \u2013 that all those people, they just woke up and went about their daily routine. They went to work, they bought lunch, they hugged their loved ones. There was absolutely no indication that anything was ever going to be different about this day to any other. There was no way of knowing that anything was going to change, none of them could tell that \u2013 in only a few short moments \u2013 our entire world was going to be rocked to the foundations.<\/p>\n

And I thought, sitting there, just how very lucky I am. How lucky so many of us are.<\/p>\n

The world is going through another 9\/11 moment, granted an extended one, and we are once again faced with a choice. We can become bitter and jaded and seek revenge and targets for our pain and confusion; or we can unite, as we once did ever so briefly, for the sake of kindness and humanity. We can take our inspiration from the helpers, from the healers and the welcomers. We can bring light to this dark and bitter time in history.<\/p>\n

We can make the right<\/em> choice. As we did for a few months back in 2001, when the world \u2013 in the midst of its grief \u2013 found hope in one another.<\/p>\n

We can remember those moments and learn from them.<\/p>\n

And, we can take that moment at the breakfast table, to smile at the people we love, and hug them at a little extra and a little harder. Because you never ever know\u2026when you\u2019re kissing a hero.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When he left for work that morning he was just another guy going to work He\u2019d have to fly out to a meeting in LA So she had kissed him twice goodbye Little did she know she\u2019d kissed a hero … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[111,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-in-the-times-of-covid","category-reflections-below-the-waterline"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3GtNE-1vR","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5819"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5823,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5819\/revisions\/5823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}