September 11, 2006
- Day 6 - Week 23 - Perspectives on 9/11
Given my journey with Peter and my brother, Barry,
during the past year, today is exactly the right day
to contemplate life, its challenges, and its meaning
in the context of today's complicated world. It
seems odd to say, but I appreciate this day. It
causes it, indeed forces us, to think about some
things that we'd prefer not to---and usually manage
to avoid. Life is much simpler if we stick to our
"to do" lists and somehow never come to grips with
some of life's most fundamental questions. September
the 11th, as sad and devastating as it is for all
humanity----especially Americans, challenges us to
think beyond our immediate tasks. This is a time
when I truly wish we could communicate among
ourselves in real time---I know that each of you has
much to contribute as we observe this day. Let me
offer a few of my own thoughts and urge you to
contribute yours for all of us to consider.
One thing is frighteningly clear on this
day-------life is very, very fragile. It can be
taken away in an instant for reasons over which we
have no control. A sudden unexpected movement on the
freeway could mean the end despite the fact that we
may be complying with all of the rules of the road.
Leaving a meeting in Kabul or Baghdad could
literally explode a life in an instant. A mistake at
the hospital could be irretrievable. How well we
know from our collective battle with cancer that you
never know when it will strike or how deadly it can
be. But how we deceive ourselves that one day
necessarily follows the next without a ripple.
Consciousness of life's fragility is the first step
towards new life. How ironic that we experience new
consciousness in the wake of a close brush with
death or the death of others. In that contrary way,
the potential for light to come from darkness is
boundless following an event as tragic as 9/11.
Being humans, however, it depends on what we do with
the opportunity. As I observe our society during
these past five years, perhaps the predominant theme
that I see the pervasiveness of fear----and the ease
with which it is promoted and marketed. Fear,
particularly when the prospect of random violence is
palpable, makes sense. On the other hand, fear, when
it disables us-----when it prevents us from relating
to others in positive, respectful, or caring
ways----carries a heavy cost. I'm afraid that
American culture, policies, and programs reflect
more of the latter than is healthy for the soul of
our nation. Although there is a growing awareness
that many in our country exploit fear for their own
purposes, the fact is that those who market fear
have been very very successful during the past five
years.
For those of us struck with cancer----or near one
who has been----we understand the logic of fear. On
the other hand, we also understand the call to live
life as fully as possible, for the future is so
uncertain. My father-in-law, one of America's
finest, often says grace at meals in which he prays,
"Lord, help us to live while we are yet alive." He's
86. I know of no other 86 year old person who lives
as rich a life as he does. The Lord answers his
prayer each and every day. It is my prayer today
that those who survived the tragedies of 9/11 have
chosen to "live while they are yet alive" with a new
consciousness of the precious gift of life and the
opportunities that it affords us even in the face of
random death. It is through such a transformation
that light does indeed triumph over darkness. It
should be the business of all of us to put fear in a
proper perspective------to control it and manage it
appropriately, rather than submit to its basest
potential.
I was in Washington DC on September 11, 2001, a day
I will never forget. I chose NOT to go to the
Pentagon that morning for a meeting since I was
running late for another meeting on Capitol Hill.
When I arrived at my Senate office, I caught the
image of the second airliner crashing into the tower
on a TV screen in our press office. "Stunned" hardly
begins to capture my reaction. My meeting with the
New Mexico National Guard leaders was interrupted
shortly thereafter with news that the Pentagon had
been hit and that we were to evacuate the Capitol
immediately. Traffic away from the Hill was a bad
dream. Cell phones were completely useless. Some
three hours later I arrived at my apartment, still
in a daze. I wandered around unable to watch the
television news any more. It was one of those few
crystal clear blue sky September days in Washington.
I knew, as I sat on a park bench watching everyday
life go by, that the Pentagon was burning and that
perhaps some of my colleagues were among the dead.
It simply doesn't get any more surreal.
I've watched the political climate in our nation
slowly, but determinedly into a morass of reaction
focused on near term responses to unlimited
scenarios. Unfortunately, those responses have
produced the culture in which we now live. Only
slowly have many Americans begun to understand the
price of those responses and the necessity for
"living while we are yet alive". I am beginning to
hear that message in some of the political discourse
of the day, and that gives me hope. Perhaps our
nation is beginning to recover from a form of cancer
over which it had no control. It needs all of our
help to do so.
Back to Week
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