Early Reflections: Thursday, September 12th
Buenos dias...
Why? Because I still have some Spanish skills and I'd like to use them once in a while!
Today's post is "late"...but trust that I was up early. Unfortunately, today was more of a struggle for Lily to get ready for the 6:09am bus. It fact, we faced the fact early that she wasn't going to make it and mom made her a protein shake in lieu of cereal and I got ready for work early so I could drop her off at school in order to give her more time. Which actually upset her, because she really wanted to push herself to make the bus, and expressed that she wanted mom to push her in the final minutes. Huh. However, the ride to school was insightful, I dumped my problems on her and she suggested solutions, because as a family, we believe that there is (almost) always a solution.
There really is. Sometimes it is messy, often times difficult, and seldom perfect. But there is a solution that is better than just sitting back and doing nothing.
I was having a conversation with a friend yesterday who lost a loved one as a result of 9/11 (cancer later in life). Both he and his friend were part of the early responders who volunteered to aid in the recovery at the World Trade Center and yesterday was a difficult day for him. We chatted about our common belief that as difficult as 9/11 was, as much as it was one of the worst days in our history, in many ways, September 12th was one of our best. Tough to say with all that was going on, and to many who had to deal directly with the pain that day, it would understandably be difficult to accept. But as a city, as a country, as a society, as humans, we came together like never before. We shed labels and focused on helping others, being empathetic, whether it was those on site sifting through rubble to first find survivors and eventually identify remains, to those who lent a shoulder to cry on, to those who signed up to defend our freedom....we became one. And it showed.
It is sad that it took a tragedy to bring us together, more so than we are today. And I truly hope that it doesn't take a tragedy to bring that human spirit back. Really, it is here, we just need to bring it forward on a more regular basis and drown out the "noise".
Try to do something good today! By the way, the fluffy pineapple? My daughter sent that picture to me as a "thank you" for taking her to school when she missed the bus. Those with teens know this is a pretty big deal!
(follow me @rhoniball or connect with me at www.honiball.me)
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