Internet Geek Girl

I like to write on planes.  Cranking the iTunes on my MacBook.  I am on a plane today.  7 years ago, all the airports were shut down. In fact, my whole city was pretty much shut down, except for the bars and restaurants. I remember very little except drowning our deep, unfathomable sorrow together in East Village.

Since that day, there have been other “9/11s” when I have sat around my house and cried, gone to memorials. A day of mourning.

Today I’m on a plane, going to a conference sitting next to a woman who speaks very little English. I speak no Spanish unfortunately. But she is wonderful to talk to and has a very nice smile. We’ve managed to learn a little bit about each other. She was born in Puerto Rico and currently lives in Manchester, NH and is visiting her daughter in Orlando.

My friend Steve Rosenbaum is a story teller. He has helped us to define what it means to be part of the 9/11 Generation. As Steve points out:

Each of us has a personal story, memories and feelings that we’ve pushed into a corner. The drumbeat to ‘move on’ is natural, perhaps essential. But I’d gently suggest that you make sure that your story isn’t lost or forgotten, as both historians and your grandchildren will hunger for it one day.

I actually do have stories.  But I don’t feel like telling them here. What I do want to point out is that we owe it to ourselves and the world to develop more successful domestic and foreign policies that safeguard our nation and our people from the horrors of terrorism. That’s what I want our leaders to focus on!  PHILIP BOBBITT and JOHN C. DANFORTH did a great job in the NYT Op Ed piece on 9/11 providing a list of questions on this issues that both Obama and McCain should answer. I wish they would.

I realize I’m just an InternetGeekGirl trying to make her way in the world. Today was not a 9/11 full of mourning for me. It has been pretty much business as usual. But September 11th is different and always will be.  I will always stop on this day, and find gratitude and peace.  As I always do, I focus on hope for the future, and send love to the many people who suffered from that great tragedy.

Photo credit: (CC) Brian Solis, www.briansolis.com and bub.blicio.us (who took this picture while he was walking around NYC on 9/11/08 finding his own moment of silence and gratitude).

Steve Rosenbaum of Magnify.net posted a beautiful remembrance of 9/11.

I will never forget that day. It is hard to put into words how I feel about 9/11, having lived a few miles away from Ground Zero and having personally lost friends. It’s also hard for me to think about all the anger and bitterness in the world and how violence begets violence. I understand anger, but I feel better when I see examples of people that took that anger and channeled it into something good. Someone like Amy Callahan and her family.

Amy Callahan, my best friend for 25 years, lost her fiance Scott Hazelcorn on that day. Amy is being featured on The Oprah Show today, highlighted for her hard work creating Camp Better Days, a camp for children that lost parents and loved ones on 9/11. On Oprah’s site, Amy stated:

“A few weeks before [the attacks], [Scott] and my brother and I had a conversation about starting a camp for kids in need,” she says. “I had no idea at the time that it would have been these kids.” To help ease her grief, Amy says she threw all her energy into the camp. “It gave me a purpose,” she says.

For Amy and the hard-working staff and supporters of Camp Better Days - It’s about the kids!!!

Since 9/11 I have come to believe strongly in the power of compassion, love and gratitude. I pray that each of us take small steps to incorporate more compassion, love and gratitude into our lives. I am inspired by the children who, despite the horrific loss of their parents, are able to forgive. If they can do it, can’t we?