Are We All Americans Today?

On September 12, 2001, people from all over the world proclaimed,
“We are all Americans today.”

This expression of global solidarity demonstrated the power of
human compassion and revealed the depth of our spiritual connection.

We rose above

ideology.
We extinguished borders.
We lay down our weapons.
We put aside our differences.
We declared, above all, we are all human today.

We transcended the insanity of the tragedy through the
spirit of our humanity.

We met at the place where we are all one.

I cannot think of 9/11 without thinking about 9/12.

In the rubble of our worst national tragedy lay the seeds
of our greatest global possibility.

We had in our grasp the chance to unify the people of the
world behind the highest vision and value of all:

Peace.

I went to bed on 9/11 dreading we were on the edge of madness.
I woke up on 9/12 optimistic I might see peace in my lifetime.

When I go to bed tonight, I will grieve for the path we chose
and the opportunity we let slip away.

We went from being among the most loved people, to the most feared.

We sacrificed the possibility of peace for the probability of endless war.

We mortgaged our future for retribution today.

We squandered the chance to move the world from fear to love.

We invested our

blood and treasure in war and destruction rather
than peace and construction.

We defaulted on our responsibility to leave our children a legacy of a
more peaceful planet.

If you could go back, what would the 2008 you say to the 2001 you?
What would you tell our leaders about the path to choose?

September 11 is seared into our consciousness as a day of infamy.

Today, I am filled with remorse that we didn’t transform our day of
infamy into a future of possibility.

Tomorrow, I will summon the optimism I felt on 9/12/01 when the
people of the world raised their voices and declared,

“We are all Americans today.”

Peace be with you.

Mitch

P/S – I invite you to read my September 11, 2002 essay on the first anniversary of 9/11, “A Call for Peace!”

You can read my 4th of July Independence Day message, “Do We Hold These Truths to Be Self Evident?”