What Do You Remember About 9/11 – And Before?

Danny Tyree on Sep 1, 2021

We get a little more desensitized every time we “dodge a bullet.” If we’ve made it so far without fixing the brakes or having the house wiring inspected, why not kick the can down the road a little farther? Oh, yeah – all that hassle with the fire engines and the Jaws of Life.

We know the shock of stepping on the doctor’s scales, even though the individual indulgences that contributed to our weight gain are long forgotten.

If we’re one of many people enabling a substance abuser, we can act innocent when they wind up in prison or the grave.

We pass up a local mom-and-pop store “just this once” so many times that mom and pop eventually hang up a “Going out of business” sign.

Unless we keep a detailed diary, we couldn’t really enumerate all the ways in which we’ve frittered away the last five or 10 years; but in times of crisis, the fruits of our non-labors become painfully obvious. We haven’t learned a new skill/language, gained any new friends or made a lasting contribution to the community.

Etcetera, etcetera.

As 9/11 anniversary follows 9/11 anniversary, I hope our citizens and institutions will always remember the victims of the sneak attack. I hope we will always be vigilant about terrorism, whether foreign or domestic.

But I also hope we can live deliberately every day – discerning good from evil, calculating unintended consequences.

That’s how we can really obtain a happier, fairer, safer world.

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