A few days before 9/11/01, I made the decision to quit my stable job in my small hometown to move to the big city selling high end electronics on commission.
It was a risky decision, but I needed a shake up in my world.
When I turned on the news this morning 12 years ago, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen with this country.
All I knew is that WE were being attacked and what people use to determine the health of our economy (the stock market) was frozen to prevent a global economic meltdown.
For a brief moment I thought:
”What am I doing?”
”People aren’t going to spend money in a time of crisis on a 50 inch television.”
”I’m safer in a smaller town, why would I want to live my life worried that I could be living in the next terrorist target.”
In just one short month I had planned to live in a new city and work at a new job (two huge life changes). Trying to start a new life while we are on the verge of a war was a little unsettling to say the least.
Fortunately I wasn’t starting that new life alone. I had a wonderful support system built into my girlfriend at the time (note: we’re still friends).
That was the last time I doubted my move. I knew that as a country we wouldn’t let this attack bring us down. Sure life was taking a new path that was unknown to my generation, but I had faith that we would rebound.
I look back now and I’m able to say that through tragedy,
we can learn a lot about ourselves as individuals and as a nation.
I learned to not make rash decisions based on heightened emotions.
I could have easily given into fear and said to Jenny, “let’s stay in Grants Pass.” I’m glad I didn’t. While I may not be richer financially, my life is richer in experiences. Experiences I would have definitely not had in Grants Pass, OR.
Fill your life with experiences because physical things can disappear.
In the blink of an eye your things and loved ones can be gone. We shouldn’t find happiness in acquiring the latest consumer electronics and crappy knick knacks to fill our homes with. It’s just artificial happiness that we are seeking through these things because we won’t address the difficult question of what truly makes us happy. We should be filling our lives full of memories. In the end, experiences can’t be take away. Even after the moment is gone, the experiences you acquire can still live on through memories.
I would hope as a nation that we learned the same lessons, but the verdict is still out on that one. I’m concerned with our obsession with pop culture, social media, and they latest gadgets. These distractions take us away from what’s truly important: Life and the loved ones we keep close.
While we were never the same after 9/11, we did regroup and life resumed back to as normal as it could. Unfortunately we have given into terror by placing certain practices into play in the name of security. I don’t believe there will ever be a time again when we can relax as a nation.
When people say, “Never Forget.” The truth is that they have forgotten. They forgot that for once as a nation we stood UNITED. Lives were lost that day trying to save the lives of others. People were selfless and weren’t concerned with petty differences or gossip and people weren’t bragging about what kind of car they drove.
Yet we have fallen back into our old, selfish ways.
We’re more concerned with the latest iPhone, Internet memes, and twerking. Yes… twerking.
My hope for us as a nation is to remember that feeling of unity after the tragedy.
When people helped each other first and themselves second.
It shouldn’t take a tragedy to remember that feeling.
Through unity, we are truly secure.