September 11 - What Have We Learned?

It’s been 11 years since the events of September 11, 2001 took away loved ones and dear friends and for many of us, memories of that day are as vivid as the day they occurred.

I hear politicians and the media proclaim how the new tower on Ground Zero proves to the world that we will not bow to the intentions of others, how it proves that we are strong, blah blah blah.

However, such messages of bravado don’t negate the fact that our foreign policy helped create the environment that allowed this to happen in the first place.

Of course it doesn’t play well for a politician to promote or even admit this.  It is far more advantageous for politicians to play down our contribution to the difficulties of the world and to play up the role of victim or savior.

And besides, in the ultimate game of chess that international diplomacy has become, it is easy to sacrifice people that you will never meet if it serves the purpose of “the greater good”.

Whatever “the greater good” means.

Perhaps I sound more bitter than I usually sound in my posts of positive action, positive thinking and the like.

But after consulting to Wall St., Fortune 25, national governments and national military organizations for longer than I care to remember, I guess I’ve been exposed to enough stuff to know that all is not as cut and dried as politicians and the media would have us believe.

And turning a blind eye towards the ignorance of certain people is a means of condoning and even endorsing the results of their actions.

Truthfully, if I had my druthers I would rather have my friends Eric Bennett, Narender Nath and Steve Fiorelli back as well as all the other friends that I lost than have a nice building that sends a message that “we’re back and better than ever”.

As the childhood game goes, once one trumpets that one is king of the mountain, there is always someone who wants to knock the king off.

And as in all childhood games, it’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt.

Especially the innocent.

I am a better person for having known Eric, Narender and Steve.

But I would rather still be learning from them instead of remembering them for the great people that they were.

And I am reminded, as I remember their loss every year (please see Carpe Diem – Do We Know What It Means?), that while the years go by, I wonder if we have really learned anything at all in regards to doing the right thing on this planet.

On most days, the positive thinking side of me believes that we have.

But on days like the anniversary we honor on September 11th and looking around at what is happening around the world, I’m not so sure.

In the meantime ….

Share love with the people around you.

Show people that they matter.

Seize the moment to show someone you care or to give someone a hand-up.

It may be the last moment you have such an opportunity.

Make the most of it.

If enough of us do this and we do it on a regular enough basis, maybe then we will finally have the opportunity to reach our ultimate positive potential.

And maybe then the people who claim to represent us will follow our example.

Maybe.

In service and servanthood,

Harry

 

Eric, Steve and Narender.

Rest in peace, my friends.