Reflections on the
15th Anniversary of 9-11
When Franklin Delano Roosevelt announced the attack on Pearl Harbor, a shocked nation listened to his resonant voice on the radio with the words “a day that will live in infamy”. Americans were horrified that without a formal declaration of war, Japan would attack a US Military base in Hawaii. As most of us remember from our history class, if not from our own lives, the surprise nature of the attack without the prior declaration of war was a part of the horror. War had in that event, become different. The old rules no longer applied. It marked a change in how the world worked and required an adjustment in the thinking of not just Americans, but the whole world.
This was also true, on 9-11 as the world watched domestic airplanes filled with peaceful passengers crash into the World Trade Center. Not only was the sudden assault an act of war, but it was an act of war without a clear opponent in a war. Victims were not citizens of a country, but symbols of a society against which a group of people, not a government had created a war, with no declaration or even clear purpose that we could understand.
The fact that this event was watched through the day and night courtesy of 24-hour news coverage made this unique in the history of civilization. An act of war, an act of unspeakable terror was right there with us in our homes. Where we were and what we were doing when the planes hit the towers and then even more unthinkable when the towers collapsed became a part of our ordinary life. The terror, the horror, and the fear this engendered affected everyone in the country and indeed most people in the world. In addition, due to the media, as we relived the experience repeatedly we became a society suffering from Post Traumatic Stress.
That the fear has lingered is not surprising. That the blame has extended to an entire religious group instead of a group of fanatic individuals is potentially one of the most dangerous aspects of the after effects of 9-11 as it is this factor that most threatens our freedom. This fear now threatens to destroy what has made America a people unique in the history of civilization.
This threat to our freedom comes not from the outside world but from our response to our own fears. We must as a people now learn to transcend our fear without offering up our liberty. We must with vigilance and the distance of the passing years look at the effects that terrorism has had on our life and our society and re-evaluate how much power we wish to give our attackers to destroy our values.
As one of our Founding Father’s Benjamin Franklin once commented, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
If we allow our fear to erode our liberties we have surrendered what is most valued and the terrorists would have won a victory that the Nazis and the Communists failed to win. See article “Did Osama Win” by Andrew Sullivan in Newsweek September 4, 2011.
Freedom of religion is a key principle upon which our country was founded. If that principle were reinterpreted to only grant that freedom to popular regions, what it means to be an American and to live in America would be lost. As High School Civics teachers have taught for generations we must preserve freedom for everyone, because the logical consequence of loss of anyone’s liberty is the loss of everyone’s liberty.
Therefore, as we face this milestone of unspeakable horror it is necessary that we begin to focus our efforts upon releasing the fear that terrorism generates in us. Releasing Fear and learning to transcend and transmute our fears is one of the most profound, powerful and life changing aspects of transforming our consciousness.
Downloadable on my website is a visualization (called “Feeling Free“) to help you transmute fear and other negative emotions. This crucial time when our fear is being refreshed with all of the media coverage about 9-11 is a perfect time to begin releasing the fear that this event may have engendered.
Finally, to free your country from the residuals of terrorism you must begin a process of healing. Healing ultimately is enhanced by forgiveness. We have seen the failure of revenge. As Mohandas Gandhi once stated,
An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
It is time to let the past be in the past.
It is time as a people to put the fears and the horrors of terrorism behind us and as we begin the rebuilding of our lands and lives remember to rebuild our faith and confidence in our world. It is time to renew in our hearts and minds the freedoms that we have worked so hard to achieve. We can conquer our fears, honor our liberties and our values, and learn to forgive. Yes, even the unforgiveable.
If it were not unforgivable, true forgiveness would not be required.
— Genevieve Gerard
When my friend Alan Scherr was killed, along with his 13-year-old daughter Naomi, in the Mumbai Massacres at the Oberio Hotel his wife Kia formed an organization to honor the sacredness of life. Her leadership in response to her loss is a powerful force in the world to bring peace and transformation out of sorrow and loss. For more information on forgiveness visit her site “One Life Alliance” here.
As our thoughts go to the families who have lost loved ones, let us pray for the healing of the families, the healing of our nation and the healing of the world, that today marks the moment when we as a people move forward to greater understanding of those who live life differently from us with the realization that we are more alike than different and we are ultimately one people, in one world. Peace best serves us all.
Blessings,
Genevieve
Related Posts You May Enjoy Reading:
- Are You Still Carrying the Past?
- The Last Step in Forgiveness
- Unlocking the Power to Forgive
- Holiday Forgiveness and Gratitude
- Forgiving the Unforgivable
Copyright © 2011-2016 by Genevieve Gerard & Touch Of The Soul, All rights reserved.
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Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the greatest public inspirational speakers to ever live. He played a major role in getting everyone to have equal rights. MLK led a non violence protest which to me when you are constantly getting beat and constantly being put into jail is a very hard thing to do. He is truly an amazing man and deserves to be called a hero.
He helped us all attain freedom, reduce preconceived fears and taught us it was ok to forgive others and ourselves.
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There isn’t much of an argument anyone could put up against Gandhi also being a hero. He brought forth a new, effective way of peaceful rebellion. He showed that people could make change without doing wrong. To fight against something that’s wrong without ever committing an act of evil requires an unbelievable amount of patience and self control. Although he was assassinated for speaking out, his actions were well worth the time and effort he put forth. He changed life for an entire race for the rest of forever.
I think this means that when you have satisfaction the happiness lies in the being and not in something you achieved. And if you give full effort into say football it fills up and wins over full victory. I am ready to forgive.
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