What has changed since then?
We have collectively agreed to sacrifice some privacy for the sake of security. We have lost many. The cost of living has increased, but not the working wage. We stopped watching the same screens and the same content — and in doing so, lost the thread of a collective culture and a shared sense of what it means to be an American.
And yet we are mostly the same. We want a safe place to live, clean air, healthy food, healthy bodies, a sense of purpose.
Rather than a lecture about 9/11, here is something Brianna Wiest explores beautifully in 101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think — the idea that the most important work we can do is turn inward, ask honest questions, and sit with them. No answers required.
101 Essays that will change the way you think; author: Brianna Wiest; This is not a sponsored ad!!
A few questions to ponder today:
Who do I want to be in society — a helper or a taker?
Who do I want to be for my family — an enabler, or someone willing to speak my truth, even when it’s hard?
Do I want to learn anything this year? What am I willing to listen to in order to expand my understanding of people whose lives and cultures look different from mine?
Am I registered to vote, so I can show up for my local community and neighborhood efforts?
Am I proactive in taking care of what I can control — in an age of so much uncertainty — my living space, my garden, my food, my friends, my neighbors, my pets?
Can I take care of myself in a time when so many are suffering?
What does the anger behind those attacks remind us? Aren’t American values worth defending?
Do you have hope that this country can become more united again?
Are you willing to vote for someone who isn’t exactly perfect, if there is a real promise they can help pass meaningful reforms — make gerrymandering illegal, reduce legislative gridlock, restore the foundational tenets of democracy?
What is one book you might read this year to open your mind on a subject you know nothing about — the origin of coffee, quantum entanglement, species at the bottom of the ocean?
What are the things that fascinate you — that can keep you in a state of curiosity rather than immediate self-protection?
Take care of yourself today.
Remember all we’ve lost.
We are so grateful for the country we still have here at J.M. Whitney, and it’s a privilege to serve all.