September 11, 2001, my daughter comes running into my bedroom,
“MOM! The news said a plane hit one of the big sky scrapers in New York!” I sort of just rolled over and said…”oh,
that’s messed up. I kind of just
rolled over and went back into a slight Doze.
I’m not sure how long it was but she came back into my room “Mom another
plain just crashed into the other sky scraper.
The news things it’s an attack on America!”
I jumped up and went to the T.V watching the towers burn. "Hmm…”
I didn’t really say too much after that. What was there to say?
I jumped up and went to the T.V watching the towers burn. "Hmm…”
I didn’t really say too much after that. What was there to say?
This should have been a frightening experience. Was I in shock? Was I numb?
Was I de sensitized? I don’t know what I was. But I know what I wasn't.
I wasn't too shocked. I was a little worried at how shocked
and surprised I wasn't I got dressed
and went to work but there was very little work goin on. I can remember with each phone call it was so
little about business but more bout how we, as Americans need to pull together
and unify. That whole work week was more
of a reassurance that hey, I may be across the country from you, but I’m here I
share the same pain and sorrow and let’s love and respect our country and support our countrymen.
For week, we as Americans, begin to see things differently.
Tolerated violence less in hour homes, hour neighborhoods’ and even in our
entertainment. Do you remember there
were certain scenes cut out of Movies and T.V shows because it was too close to
the situation of 9/11? I can remember saying to some of my friends…
“I think it’s funny that we as Americans were ok with TV. And Movies that
showed war and terrorism in other countries, but since it’s happened on this
soil we’re suddenly cautious and sensitive to it? 
It’s the same Production but different stage. In reality it shouldn't be the stage that matters it should be the production itself.
It’s the same Production but different stage. In reality it shouldn't be the stage that matters it should be the production itself.
One of the first things that came to my mind during 9/11 and
the weeks after was… WHY IS EVERYONE SO SHOCKED AND SURPRISED? As I watched the T.V as the events unfolded
I remember a time years ago where my mother gathered me and my sister together each
week and we read the book of Revelations. I’m not sure why she felt compelled
to do it. I thought it was odd at the time.
Being the artistic
child in the family when I read things they would play out in my mind very
animated and full of color and drama! So for me, it was like a page out
Revelations being scene on TV. And then
I thought… THE WORLD AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YET! This is going to be tame compared
to what else is to come in our lifetime.
I don’t recall being fearful. I
grew up in Michigan. The state of Michigan has the highest concentration of
Muslims out side of Muslim countries. Detroit has the country's largest concentration
of Arabs (mostly Lebanese, Iraqis, Palestinians, and Yemenis), a legacy of the
days when Henry Ford employed Lebanese laborers. They were my co-workers,
school mates and friends. I remember in
the days after on the new they showed where 3 business men were asked to leave
a flight because the other passengers weren't comfortable with them being on
it.
How sad it was to have such “justified” paranoia toward the stereotype.
How sad it was to have such “justified” paranoia toward the stereotype.
I experience PTSD Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder. Now those in
the Military will recognize it and most people will recognize is as the term “SHELL
SHOCK.”
It comes from traumas that we encounter. When we don’t deal
with the trauma properly, any situation that shows up in our lives resembling
that trauma will cause the mind and body to think the trauma is happening all
over again causing you to go into an irrational Fight or Flight mode. The
tricky thing is that anything can trigger this reaction: A smell, a phrase, a
song on the radio, a T.V Show or movie,
the way someone looks or acts, an article of clothing…. If you don’t know the proper steps to take
when the triggers happen then your reactions can be more damaging to you and
those around you. I haven't even mentioned the PHYSICAL effects it has, headache, nausea, blurred vision...
I have come to determine that our Nation suffers from PTSD
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and we suffer on all levels: Religiously,
Politically, Financially, Racially Civilly and Socially.
We Are A Wounded Nation.
We Are A Wounded Nation.
We are a wounded nation and it effects us all on a personal
level. How do you heal a nation? It begins on a personal level. It begins with
our own issues. It begins with us recognizing our own truth and owning it. It begins when we decide to live in our truth
or change it because we don’t like it and then doing the work to create a
better truth. We will never begin to truly live our lives as long as we expect
others to do the work to repair it.
My generation will
either be the generation that makes it better or makes it worse and begins with
something as simple as teaching our children and grandchildren within the home.
We are a nation who doesn't mind lying down and doing what it takes to bring
children into the world. But somewhere along the way we've stopped parenting
and teaching them.
We've put them in front of TVs, Computers and iPads and allowed for those things to take our place in their education.
We've put them in front of TVs, Computers and iPads and allowed for those things to take our place in their education.
I can remember being in
Kindergarten, knowing my ABC’s and how to count to 50 and knowing how to spell
my name and yes…. Reading. Small simple books. I address my teachers and my
parent’s friends as Mrs., Miss or Mister, not by their first name, because we
were not contemporaries. We were taught to look people in the face when we
spoke to them and speak loudly and clearly and with confidence. These were some
of the things that would make us successful in life.
The home is our first
school of learning: table manners, common courtesies how to get along. If two
or more of us wanted to watch different shows at the same time there was no 2nd
or 3rd TV we had to learn how to compromise and negotiate with each other.
Sometimes the negotiation was to digress and give in. Other times it was to strike a deal and go
after what was worth it to you. All skills you need to learn to have a
successful life. We had to pick our battles. If I get mad and hit my brother,
how will he retaliate, will I be strong enough to deal with it? Will whatever
happens after be worth the shot I took?
We had to think things through and live with consequences and be
accountable for our actions. If we stole something we were marched right back
into the store and had to confess what we did to the people we did it to. There’s very little accountability for
choices these days. Bad behavior and
disrespect is excused because it’s funny or because it’s done in truth or
because it’s none of our business. As a
child even if we were brutally honest as children are we were schooled on the
appropriateness, attitude and disrespect we presented that truth. We learned when truth should be brutally honest,
when it should set you free, and when it came with gentle correction and strong
love.
Lack of these things add to the PTSD of our Nation.
Lack of these things add to the PTSD of our Nation.
Failing to take advantage of our education and knowing the
importance of it adds to the PTSD of Nation. For some of it, it was our only
way out of breaking a cycle of poverty and negative environment. School is
where we learned to be part of a team, cheering and encouraging other and being
a part of a group (instead of a gang) that set goals and accomplished
them. Almost most every kid was in cub
scouts, boy scouts, Brownies or Campfire girls.
Boy and girls clubs flourished with positive activities for community
and person growth. Weekends were spent at the YMCA or the Rec Centers with
friends and we played basket ball, Volleyball, Softball, Baseball, hockey and
learned to swim. And when it was nice outside we rode bikes and skate boards,
made jumps and forts and go-carts or played baseball in the vacant fields. Our Asses were healthier and smaller because
we moved them and didn't need them for a cushion all night and day.
Things were rarely just given to us frivolously. We had to
earn money through cutting grass, raking leaves, shoveling snow, helping the
neighbor do chores if we wanted a new bike, roller blades, skateboards, action
figures, radios or walkie talkies. Feel free to replace that with Scooters,
cars, clothes, cell phones, ipods/pad or xbox’s.
We weren't afraid to Say Grace or reference scriptures or any
other book that might lay some kind of moral foundation. It was cool to hang
out with parents and grandparents and they knew our friends and their family
members for a couple of Generations.
People weren't
offended when you corrected their children for doing the wrong thing. As a
matter of fact they called you and thanked you for setting them straight and
looking out for them in the absence of their parent. And the parents had the
courage to be embarrassed by the actions of the offending child and reinforced
that correction. We lived in the
village and tolerate the village fool and the village idiot because even they
have a value, even if it was to be an example of what not to do and how to be
better.
It was ok for our sons to play with girls and our daughters to
play with boys because they were appropriate, we taught them how to be.
We didn’t separated them until the age of 16 and then expect them to automatically know how to deal with each other. We grew them up together, watched them fight as kids and learn how to settle it without parents getting too involved to the rescue. We sent them on activities together with our families and their families so if they could date at the right age they had a foundation of friendship and familiarity. They curiosity of each other didn’t get the best of them and carry them away to unknown and pent up curiosity.
We didn’t separated them until the age of 16 and then expect them to automatically know how to deal with each other. We grew them up together, watched them fight as kids and learn how to settle it without parents getting too involved to the rescue. We sent them on activities together with our families and their families so if they could date at the right age they had a foundation of friendship and familiarity. They curiosity of each other didn’t get the best of them and carry them away to unknown and pent up curiosity.
We are in a day and age of exceptions. Everyone man woman and
child I know and their situation is the exception to some kind of rule making
us all JUST AS SPECIAL AND IMPORTANT as everyone else. The agenda of some is to
push the exception to be the rule.
Putting the needs of the one above the needs of the most or not
accepting that which is “just as good as” the rule.
We’ve turned into a nation of selfish untrusting control
freaks. We want power and control over people and thing but aren’t willing to
do the work to accomplish those things. We tell folks what we want and expect everyone
else to do the work to accomplish it.
And become upset when they don’t do it right or how we want it done. Not
recognizing it just may not be what they want.
From loving the Mickey
Mouse Club to Loving the Bad Girl’s Club and from watching the Honey Moon game
to watching the Bachelor and Bachelorette. In a diverse nation it takes all kinds to strengthen and weaken it.
Our country is wounded,
our pride is wounded and we are becoming weaker each year, not recognizing that
the strength of the Nation is dependent on the strength of the home and family.
It thrives off the working man doing the
manual labor to make things happen, more than the man up in the office on the
phone. It thrives on the teachers who educate our kids, the police and
firefighter who put the lives on the line each time they go into work, not the
pro athlete, the actress or the rap artists making a million and using it for
multiple cars, houses and jewelry.
It thrives on the
Mothers and Fathers who support each other and their children, not the playa’s
and the baby mama’s who can’t afford to
live by themselves, let alone take care of someone they’ve brought into the
world. In the Animal world, A baby penguin will die if both parents don't work together.
We’ve jump to become offended first instead of allowing common
sense, or even the Holy Spirit of God to discern if offense was intended. We fight and disagree trying to see eye to eye
instead of understanding that it’s more important to see heart to heart.
The state of the Nation
is in some way no better or worse off then the state of our homes and
family. We’ve lost focus. It is us who heals and strengthens the
Nations. The Nation doesn’t heal and strengthen us.
Let us take this
opportunity to look back at 9/11 and remember and in that remembrance let us
remember how we used to be as a country and Let us also take this opportunity
to begin to heal our Nation on a more personal level. We can’t control our
Government or our neighbors. But we can go back into our homes as parents and
families and begin to heal within the safety of it’s walls, How knows maybe the
generation behind us will become the generations that brings it all back
together. God Bless you. God Bless the
USA.
