Instant Change

My oldest son, Jack, and I just returned from a short trip to Pennsylvania.  Along the way home we realized how close we were to the Flight 93 National Memorial, and since the government didn’t shut down the other day, we decided to go.  I was struck by how a place can be so incredibly beautiful and simultaneously solemn.  Its importance is significant to honor those lost, but equally important to be a reminder of how the world can instantly change.

I’ve had some instant change in my life recently… and it hit me immediately that there was a parallel.  Now, please know I realize how insignificant my personal change is in comparison to the loss of 9/11, and I mean no disrespect… my change is a single drop of water in an entire ocean of grief.  But like all things we try to understand, it made me think a little differently than I had been this past month.

Change is hard when it is slow, but harder still when it is unexpected… On 9/11, I had no idea how much the world hated us.  It was the shock of realizing that I was insulated from what was real and now I was forced to deal with a new reality that was forever unchangeable.  I couldn’t wish things to go back to the way they were, it was a new world, even if I didn’t like it.

What came after was learning to adapt… we all had to adapt.  That was true then and it’s true again for me now.  There is no going back, now I can only to assess what has happened, learn from it and continue to influence those who are in the same orbit I’m in.  Going forward is really the only real option, as a nation and as a person… 

Our country has dedicated itself to improving our ability to see what is real, identify threats, mitigate risk and plan to protect itself.  I need to do the same… rebuild my resiliency, plan to get stronger and protect what is important at all costs.  Remembering is a key, not to languish but to heal and honor what was, and the Flight 93 National Memorial site is an elegant reminder that if we try, we can move forward with dignity and become stronger.

My original plan with this blog was to start out on a new journey, and I took a bit of a detour for too long.  The good news is I made more progress than I had ever planned.  The time is now to refocus, reeducate, and continue to build for a future… time to grow.  I don’t wish for a different past, to get in a Time Machine and go back to a specific moment and get a do-over… Because growth comes from the experience, and I think the experience was, in the end, essential.

9/11 knocked us down, but we came back.  2024 has done its best to beat me with all of its instant changes in my life… but my response back to 2024 is, screw you.  I win.