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