On this Day

On This Day
Written September 10th, 2002

On this day, the eve of the day the horror of the world came home, I am afraid. I am not afraid of terrorist attacks tomorrow or any time in the coming months. I am not afraid of chemical weapons, biological warfare or nuclear bombs. I am afraid that we, as a species, don’t seem to be learning from our history.

We have the ability to extend life, to cure disease, and create technologies that are almost magical in their complexity, but our infinite intelligence, ingenuity and imagination still have not found a cure for the plagues that truly threaten us-—war and hatred.

At the end of every war—-not to mention every Remembrance and Veteran’s Day-—we say “Never again” and yet, wars come. Defeating Germany in WWI did not negate the need to fight Hitler or the Japanese. WWII did not end all wars—along came Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm and the War on Terror to name a few. Obviously fighting violence and hatred with violence and hatred is not working—-it never has. Instead, war and inhumanity has become a rapidly growing snowball racing down a mountainside, and it is getting more and more destructive as it gains speed.

And so I am afraid.

But what can I do? I am not someone that Presidents stop to listen to. I have neither influence nor power…

I can choose to greet everyone with love, even if they are showing me hatred—especially if they are showing me hatred.

I can choose to forgive rather than hate.

I can honor those who have died and those who continue to struggle on by standing up and speaking out. I can say, “Leaders of the world,
I hold ALL life sacred whether it has white or colored skin; whether it calls out to God using a Christian, Muslim, Hindu or Jewish name; whether it cherishes my values or not.”

I can call for peace both here and abroad, and insist that if we must go to war to protect ourselves that we do not too readily accept the inhumanity of war. Let us go forth determined to put some meat on the rhetoric of winning hearts and minds. Let us be determined to save people rather than destroy them. Let us build rather than tear down so that what we leave behind truly is peace rather than more hatred.

Dedicated to those who died on September 11th 2001 and in every conflict since in every country worldwide. Also dedicated to those of us still here -- we are the hope for change.