the day after…

Oh, how I long for a September 12th mentality…

… a day we came together…

… a day we knew that life was short…

… a day we knew what was good and right and true…

… a day we knew all lives mattered…

… a day we weeped together…

… a day we cried out to a holy God, recognizing we need help and we are not Him…

… a day we encouraged one another…

… a day we listened well to others…

… a day we loved our neighbor…

… a day we focused on the big picture…

… a day social media rants were recognized as unhelpful…

… a day we knew being divisive wasn’t wise…

… a day politics didn’t matter…

… a day we weren’t so polarized…

… a day we respected firemen and law enforcement…

… a day leaders led…

… a day leaders fought the real enemy and not one another…

… a day leaders knew who the real enemy was…

… a day we knew shaming all Democrats or all Republicans was shortsighted…

… a day even in disagreement, we respected our President…

… a day where collectively we knew that love is always stronger than hate…

… a day where we learned hate was only associated with evil…

… a day in which we kept the main thing, the main thing…

… a day where we were kinder…

… a day we knew the Taliban was bad…

… a day we all knew sports was just a game…

… a day we always shook hands at the end of the game…

… a day when imperfect as we are, we still respected the flag…

… a day we were humbled as a nation, but full of resolve…

… a day we knew what mattered most…

As Jeff Parents, founder of the New York Says Thank You Foundation — an organization which is devoted “to build hope and provide healing to people around the world to continually ‘pay it forward’ for the humanity, kindness, and volunteer spirit New Yorkers — and all Americans — experienced on 9/12 — as Parents said…

“We’re not about what happened on 9/11. We’re about what happened on 9/12.”

Let me say that once more…

“We’re not about what happened on 9/11. We’re about what happened on 9/12.”

May we not forget either 9/11 or 9/12.

May we not lose sight of what’s most important.

May we stop allowing lesser things to get in the way.

Respectfully…

AR