Reflection and The Biggest Lesson

With September 11 th being tomorrow, and it being the 10th anniversary, of the fall of the twin towers I have been a bit reflective.

I have thought about what it has meant personally. What it meant to my family, to us as a nation, and to us as global citizens.

Fist I remember well where I was when I heard the news. I was standing in my kitchen and had just turned on the radio, yeah back then most of us still listened to the radio. The first tower had been hit, and I turned on my tv just unfortunately as the second tower was hit. I thought of my cousin who worked nearby. Thankfully they were safe. I was glued to the tv so much that I wasn’t watching my then young daughter.

My dear daughter swallowed a toonie, it got caught in her lung pipe. She was suffocating to death slowly. I called 911. The ambulance took 15 minutes to come. We went sirens blaring to McMaster Hospital in Hamilton where for 7 hours she was in the emergency cardiac care unit with a private nurse watching her every labored breath till we could get an operating room and a pediatric surgeon. She was operated on at 2 am. Thankfully she was ok, but what a scare.My daughter almost was a casuality of 911.

I have thought about the costs to friends and family in the days since. My friend Paul was killed in Afghanistan. His father later died personally I think from a broken heart. My cousin who lives in England served in Iraq not once but 3 rounds of service. My brother in law also served in Iraq twice. Has there service and loss of life really done any good? Personally I think not.

Afghanistan is still a tribal country, with its own internal issues. The radicals use the war to fuel more hate. In Iraq you don’t have peace either just a mounting loss of life. Will the loss of life end anytime soon. Unfortuately not..trillions have been spent for naught. We have not helped.

Muslims have been put on trial, and not just the radical thinkers but mainstream progressive ones as well. If a woman wears a headscarf even here in Canada still she gets comments, or the look. If a man wears a beard he must be conservative, radical. A religon has been put on trial day in and day out.  For me personally that trial got me wanting to know more, understand more and lead to my conversion to Islam, as the faith at its very core teaches submission to the Creator, and a direct connection to him.

Canadians are no longer free to travel as we once were, border restrictions, passports needed, no longer is travel fun.

Globally there is fear and unrest everywhere.In the Middle East right now many are losing thier lives for simple human rights. In Africa there is famine and then the theft of the aid, in the Asia Pacific they are still rebuilding, In Haiti we have not come far enough, and then in North America we have this war on debt that no one seems to be able to fix.It can become overwhelming when we look at the state of the globe 10 years later and all the events that have happened in those years.

Sometimes we need to take a step back and think about it, and then think about what we can do individually. So what can you do today as you reflect?

What change can you bring to the table? What solution, what answer?

For me I think the global solutions start with each of us caring, with each of us sharing, with each of reaching out in love, in faith, in understanding. A revolution could be begun. A revolution of kindness and compassion but it needs to begin in each of us. We need to teach it in our homes, in our families, in our schools, in our religious institutions, we need a revolution of action that matter.

Source: http://commoncentsmom.com/2011/09/10/reflection-and-the-biggest-lesson/

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