Today is September 11th, 2011. 11 years ago this date had no significance, but on this 10th anniversary of the Twin Towers falling, 9/11 is a date that will live with us for the rest of our lives as a day that changed us, forever.
The events of that day are a reminder to us of what happens when fear, separation, anger and hate manifest in the real world by actions of human beings.
We beings are capable of such greatness, such inspiration and beauty and yet we are also capable of great acts of terror, genocide and worse.
I went back and watched a lot of the footage from that fateful day in September and, now, 10 years later I still cannot fathom the shock, horror and terror that went down that day. All kinds of acts of darkness are perpetrated on a daily basis and have been since the beginning of man, but what happened on 9/11/01 was big, loud and in all our faces. My heart still yearns, still weeps, and still cries out in rage watching the images of those burning towers.
The numbers 9/11 has been associated with human darkness and evil manifest. And while it is beyond appropriate to be wide awake to what happened on that day that we will never forget, I would like to suggest a new meaning.
Many people died on 9/11. People from all walks of life, financial backgrounds, faith systems, race, gender, and sexual orientation died that day. That day, there were no countries; there were no borders; that day we all wept as citizens of the world as we witnessed the events of the day.
I’ll be the first to admit that I have lived in fear ever since. It’s been a subtle fear. I have felt vulnerable and a subtle uneasiness whenever I fly. To know that things like that can happen in real life and not just movies changed my life forever.
But this year I am deciding to step out of fear. Life is for the living. Those who participated in the acts of that day will have won if we continue to live in fear.
Fear is what they wanted from us and fear is what they got. But no more. Not from me. And if you have been living in fear, then I hope not from you either.
Instead of 9/11 being numbers that remind of how so many died, let us honor those that died and let’s make 9/11 remind us of how we are going to live.
Life is short and we don’t know how long we have; 9-1-1 is an emergency number; let us make it an emergency to live our dreams out loud. I would venture to make a bold claim that it is UNPATROTIC to live in fear. Our Founding Fathers are cheering us on as we step back into creating the American Dream and as we peel back the layers of fear that have been placed there for 10 years and reinforced every year since.
We have been given the right to the pursuit of happiness.
We cannot pursue what makes us happy from a place of fear. If we really want to pay back those that brought down the Towers, then let’s get busy living our dreams and shining our Light. Those dark acts cannot hold us back. We must remember the terror of that day, but not dwell on it. We must always remember and honor those that died that fateful Fall day, but not stop our lives in the process.
Life is for the living.
I say that from now on we declare September 11th as a day we will all live free from fear and honor those that died by living FULLY in pursuit of what makes us happy.
This has been the hardest and most emotional blog I have ever written. I am overwhelmed with the weight of the events of that fateful day in September and at the same time I am inspired by the American Spirit to overcome, to persist and to shine when all seems dark. All of the world wept for us that day and they are weeping for us again, today.
Let us never forget what happened. And let us never let those that seek to instill fear into our lives win. Let us LIVE OUTLOUD, let us DECLARE OUR LOVE and let us love one another.
Today, there is no male or female, there are no religious differences, no gay or straight, no race division; today we are all citizens of the world collectively as one honoring those that died by choosing to live.
I am honored to be with you on this day. Let’s make our lives GREAT!
His perspective is much better than mine. Me? I think we’ve forgotten the lessons of 9/11 and that we have the attention span of gnats when it comes to something important like this. What are your thoughts today?
![JenPastiloffSimpleReminders-850x567[1]](https://toddlohenry.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/jenpastiloffsimplereminders-850x5671.jpg "JenPastiloffSimpleReminders-850x567[1]")
Bright, shiny objects! 
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