I get chills and become teary eyed just writing this post. I don't think anyone can possibly ever forget where they were those moments where our world changed forever. I think it is forever etched into our minds and subconscious.
Where was I?I was at a meeting at my sons school and ironically was due to head downtown into the city right after that meeting! As we were leaving, we started to hear rumblings that there had been a plane crash/"accident" in the city, within minutes we realized it was much much more than that. I remember walking around literally numb for days on end. I remember feeling like I didn't know if our world was coming to an end on that fateful day of 9/11. I gathered my kids and my husband and we say next to the TV together literally for days, feeling dumbfounded, as we tried to make sense of what was happening. It was and still is so utterly surreal. As much as looking at the images is a haunting, chilling and heart wrenching reminder of that catastrophic day I think too, it is important to remember it, never forget it and to honor all of those lost innocent lives.
What will I do?It is even more important that they did not die in vain. I hope that through this unspeakable tragedy, everyone learned something from that day. As I started to think more about the events that precipitated that day, I realized at its core what fueled such a violent, hateful act was all about differences, judgement, an inability to understand each other and extreme hatred. I pledged to become more about tolerant, more forgiving and to accept easier. Where does that start? With our children. Children are not born to hate, to discriminate to hurt or to judge. This is learned behavior. No matter what color you may be, what race, what religion or what culture you represent. If there is one lesson to be learned from this life changing day, let it be one for all of us to look within ourselves and open our hearts and our minds to be a kinder, less judgemental, more compassionate person who will pledge to try to understand, accept and tolerate others regardless of our differences. I think we should have a national day of tolerance. A day where we reach out to talk to someone who is different than who we are. It begins with one person. And this is something we are all capable of, by starting in our very own homes with our very own children. Where were you? What will you do?
Lets honor those that died and make their memory the catalyst for change and a never ending quest for our world to live in peace.
If you ddint't see the amazing guest post that Mary Ann of Classic Casual Home did on my love for pillows yesterday please visit! LOVE her blog, so just in case you missed it....click here.
I LOVE your idea to have a National Tolerance Day.
ReplyDeleteI would love to hit the ground running with you and get this it on the calenders.
(And as I type this, I'm wondering why we don't yet have a tolerance day...)
Wonderful post.
--Anita @ a dreamer's den blog
A national day of tolerance is just want we need. Our hearts are heavy for those who needlessly lost their loved ones. We can only image how they are feeling today.
ReplyDeleteAngela and Renee
Tina this is so beautiful and so wonderfully expressed. A national day of tolerance is EXACTLY what we need, I elect you for president. I love this idea, and you are so right it DOES begin at home, and starting with our own children is exactly where a message of hope and tolerance should begin.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this.
I love this message. So agree with all you said.
ReplyDeleteHave a good day.
Good morning sweet and beautiful Tina,
ReplyDeleteI was watching GOOD MORNING AMERICA this morning and was so stunned.What brings us all together is our humanity; we are not just Americans, Catholics, Jewish, Muslim, man or woman....we are human and live under the same canopy of common status....children of God, Alla, Yaweh, etc.....if we could only see how similar we are and not how different, and just love each other everything would be so much better. You love well, keep on living large in your heart...Anita
Well written. I love the idea of tolerance day. What a beautiful way to celebrate this diverse world we live in, what a nice way to celebrate life. Today I will be remembering, as I wrote in my post for today. There are so many elements I will never shake of this dreadful day ten years ago. I believe tolerance starts with ourselves. If we are tolerant of others, our children learn from our spoken and unspoken words.
ReplyDeleteBeautifully put!
ReplyDeleteI agree, Tina...tolerance is the key to it all!
ReplyDeleteSuch a poignant message. I love your idea, and who knows maybe it could grow from a day to even longer. I too remember exactly where I was and what I was doing. It was my daughter's first day of preschool and I was about to iron her dress and turned on the Today show. No one was speaking and one of the World Trade Center towers was on fire. I just knew something catastrophic had happened.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this touching post. We can't forget.
xo
S
If it were so simple. How about a national day of non interventionism on behalf of the US government? They don't hate us because we are American. they hate us because military Drones, missiles and armed American soldiers have killed their children.
ReplyDeleteHow about a National Day of Truth?
Tina, this is a beautiful message. The terrorists hate us because of our ideals, our freedom, our voices that can be heard freely. Ignorance is what prevents us from understanding each other. I agree, a day of tolerance (perhaps as someone suggested) to lead to more than just a day would be healing if it were taken seriously enough.
ReplyDeleteA day to look beyond our own intimate circles of familiarity and comfort, a day to look at others who are foreign, either by religion, culture or ethnicity. I pray for all those whose lives were taken so tragically and pray like you do for a time when our world is finally at peace.
LP
Beautiful, Tina. It needs to be an International Day of Tolerance.
ReplyDeleteTina,
ReplyDeleteWonderful post. For me, tolerance is a habit we do not live in the world alone we live with many other people. Most people these days are angry, troubled, rude, extremely negative, and have no self respect. Therefore choosing violence is an automatic decision rather than a bad bad choice with no comprehension of consequences.
I agree that we must start with our children but all ages need this lesson. Reality fantasy T.V. gains ratings and brings in the advertising money because our thought processes are out of balance. We are not watching the correct type of reality of life fully engulfed in tolerance. Examples teach us how. Leading by example is the way to get there. Each one of us is the perfect candidate for this kind of responsibility. It is an act of kindness as a gift to our world.
Tolerance is an eat, sleep, and breathe, concept that we must live with a full year to become a habit...one that we CHOOSE to live our lives with. I will never forget 9/11 because I choose not to, because everyone is vital, especially the stranger right next to us everywhere we go.
Blessings,
Bette
Like you, I hope what we all learned from that awful day is tolerance. Unfortunately, I believe many have learned to hate even more. There is a song from "South Pacific" that I think of when I consider people's inability to be tolerant and loving of others who are different from us. Here are some of the lyrics:
ReplyDeleteYou have to be taught to be afraid
Of people who eyes are oddly made
Of people whose skin is a different shade
You have to be carefully taught.
i agree with you, Tina, that as parents we have a solemn responsibility to teach our children to love others, despite -- and because of -- our differences.
Have a peaceful day.
Best...Victoria
An International Day of Tolerance. Thumbs up from me. I have been praying for tolerance all of my life.
ReplyDeleteI was at work in my first post-college job. I remember we all huddled around a computer watching CNN, it was a bad connection because everyone else in the building was doing the same thing. For the longest time, we kept trying to come up with some rational answer for what was going on, it was hours before I let go of the foolish hope that it was all some horrible air traffic control mishap. My boss at the time had come from Cantor Fitzgerald, whose offices were badly affected. I remember the desperation on his face as he tried to get ahold of ANYONE there to see how his old friends were.
ReplyDeleteThis is a beautiful message. Tolerance and acceptance are so key in what is going on in our world. When you think that, for the most part, the wars we are involved in are of a religious nature at some point....how sad this must make a loving, forgiving God. I lived in NYC for twenty years and watched the towers crumble that morning 10 years ago from my home in Florida. I now live on the quiet island of St. Simons off the southern coast of GA. BUT, I will never forget what happened or the lives that we lost. I have family in NY still and the fear and haste to try to make sure they were all safe is something I will never forget. You are right, one person at a time. If we could all see each other through the eyes of a child, access the inner child we all have within us....then we might make some real changes. Forget the oil, the money, the power....what does any of that mean when lives are lost? Thank you for your post today.
ReplyDeleteYou have made a perfect point which is the true American spirit. However, there is no talk of peace in DC, is there? How can all the rest of us see it so clearly? Yet our overpaid representatives just don't get it. Love you, Tina....
ReplyDeleteBeautiful thoughts, Tina. Ten years later and we are all immediately transported back to where we were on that fateful day. We had a beautiful Mass this morning, remembering the fallen, and I had to cantor. I wasn't sure I'd get through some of the music without getting emotional.
ReplyDeleteI remember exactly where we were. We were in the South of France in Antibes just entering a gallery whose owner was American. She was on the phone with her mother in California and also had french TV on with the burning towers. She said "don't you know that America is under attack?". We were both in shock. We could not believe what our eyes were seeing. How could this be? I broke down and we returned to our hotel. Then became the task of trying to get in touch with our grown children. One a volunteer fireman living in New Jersey. I was extremely worried that they called him into the city to help. He would have been the first to volunteer. But instead they sent him to another fire station were the regulars had been sent to the city. A second son traveled a lot to New York City and I was not sure where he was. Turns out he was in Chicago. A breathe of relief for us, but such sorry for those whose lives were lost. We will never forget that day and we should make sure that future generations do not forget. Let us remember come election day that we choose representatives that work for us and not them selves. It is not the left of the right, it is what is good for our country. This should not be a life time position, but one with a term limit so that new ideas can have a turn. We all want the same thing. To live in peace and harmony. Stop the finger pointing. Let's have many days of Tolerance and remember what lives were given up in the name of freedom many years ago and to this day.
ReplyDeleteThank you Tina!!
That is a day I will always remember, like everyone else. I flew out of Boston at 7am on American Airlines and can only feel incredibly lucky to have escaped the fate that others were not. It is a day of tremendous sadness and a feeling that our country was vulnerable, something I had never felt before...always remember and never forget 9-11.
ReplyDeleteThis is a beautiful post. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI,too, remember exactly what I was doing and where I was when this terrible moment in time happened....years later a stayed in a hotel directly across the street from ground zero and could ssee from the hotel window that whole that was left where the twin towers once stood. I think it's beuatiful that NY built the falls there to remember all the people who suffered on that day. May God continue to Bless America and the people who serve our country. Thanks for sharing this Tina. xoxo
ReplyDeleteI will never forget that day, ever. I also think your idea of a national day of tolerance is a FABULOUS idea. We NEED to teach that to our children. My daughter is married to a WONDERFUL guy who is half filipino and half black, and I love him with all my heheart. In fact TODAY is their first wedding anniversary. So every Sept. 11, I will have horrific memories along with WONDERFUL memories of their wedding. XO, Pinky
ReplyDeleteDear Tina,
ReplyDeleteYour words and all the images - so touching!
Here in Europe we also think today about all the people who left their lives and praying for peace and a better world.
Good Safe America and all of us.
Greetings,
karin
Thank you for this absolutely moving post. We must continue to give meaning to this horrid catastrophe and make the world a better place to live. Love yourself, love your neighbor, don't judge other's differences, live fully and let live!
ReplyDeletexo
Sharon
That day is burned into my memory forever because it’s a day I thought I had lost my husband. We lost fifteen friends and it wasn't until three in the afternoon that I knew my husband was alive. He was supposed to be on the top floor of tower two when the plane hit but thankfully the train he was on was late getting in NYC. My husband was just walking into the building when the plane hit and in the rush he lost his phone and couldn't call me and then had to walk out of the city. It was senseless and a terrible loss of life of innocent people. A national day of tolerance is exactly what we need to remember and considering the shape our country is in.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful post. I was in college on this day 10 years ago and I don't think I ever really believed I could be as happy as I am now 10 years later. I also thought the world was ending that day, so I think we have a lot to be grateful for. I hope to raise my son to be the kid in school who stands up for the kid being bullied, to be thoughtful and kind. That's my greatest hope for him. I honestly hate this day. All I do is cry and have bad dreams so I'll be happy when it's over. It will always be hard to relive.
ReplyDeleteThere are only a few of those moments in history where people remember where they were and how they felt at that moment and how it impacted their lives because what happened was so shocking, shattering and life changing - the death of JFK, the death of Diana and the events of September 11, seem to be among the most talked about. I wasn't alive for JFK, but certainly remember the moment I heard about Diana, and 9/11 and the days that followed will be forever etched in my mind. It's hard to know what to learn from it, because as much as we can try to be more accepting, tolerant, understanding, less judgmental and racist, when you see what damage, destruction, loss and tragedy was caused on that day and the reasons, it often only fuels the fire of those negative feelings, turning forgiveness into revenge. I hope to teach my children to give others a chance, to look for the good in people and not be swayed by their outward appearance or their obvious differences. Even now my 4 yr old says" I don't like so and so", and when asked why he might say "because I don't like his hair" or the clothes he wears. So it's my challenge to teach my children, but the greater challenge is to teach myself.
ReplyDeleteWhat a horrible and painful day that was. I remember what exactly I was doing that morning and how silent the whole City was that evening.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the jihadists didn't manage any attacks on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, thanks to the vigilance the security agencies, we can expect they'll try again in the run up to Christmas. Jihadists hate Christmas and want to make it a time of suffering for the infidels.
ReplyDeleteI think a National Tolerance Day is a wonderful idea - I have heard mention of it before. You are right - hate, this kind of hate, is learned. While jealousy and envy are part of human nature this vitriolic and destructive disregard for life must stop.
ReplyDeleteI will never forget! I had just dropped off my son at school and was driving back home listening to my favorite radio station when they interuptred the program to announce that the first plane had hit the WTC. All of the rest of the day I spent on the phone talking to friends and relatives, and watching it all by TV unfold before our nation's eyes.
ReplyDeleteIt was a horrific day that I will always remember and my boys remember everything that happened too just by the stories we've shared with them over the years. I hope that we never have to encounter a terrorists attack again.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful post! Was completely immersed in the day! I will never forget!
ReplyDelete