In the Wake of 9/11

By Angela Hutchinson

When the plane hit the second tower I turned on the morning news.  The shirt I was ironing was abandoned.  How could this be?  It was all surreal.  When the towers collapsed I fell to my knees sobbing.  Why are we killing each other?  Why is there so much hatred in a world that is so beautiful?    In response to this tragedy we were helping each other.  We were looking beyond our own needs and helping our neighbors.  People were hopping into their cars and driving across the nation to offer whatever they could.  Other nations were extending their sympathy to the United States.  Then slowly, vengeance and anger began to pervade goodwill.  It began to sink in the magnitude of how much other people hated Americans and American culture.  We got angry.  We were grieving.  We immediately got an “us and them” mentality.  There were sides.  There was right and wrong.  There were plans for revenge.  There was hatred. 

There were some that were trying to get fellow Americans to take a look at ourselves from an outsider’s perspective.  They asked us to take a look at our foreign policies…that maybe there was something for us to learn.  Most Americans scoffed at that idea.  We were the victims here.  Nothing justified 9/11. 

I think we all agreed that those horrific events were tragic and the killing of innocent people is devastating down to the cellular level.  Next was the critical question.  Now that these events happened to us…what do we do next?  What will our reaction be? 

Do we immediately fill ourselves with the same hatred that Osama Bin Laden and his followers felt?  Do we become filled with fear? 

Or do we take the time to center our shaken souls?  Do we look beyond the outer appearances of hate and get to the pain?  Do we go the extra step that Christ talked about…forgiveness?  Do we let God’s love flow through us?  Do we have faith that there is Justice in the Laws of the Universe?

I remember when I wrote the article “Forgiveness” about my grandmother Mabel.  She was attacked by young men in her home and received head injuries and even greater injury to her Spirit of trust.  There were many family members that reacted in the same way our nation did when assaulted…fear and hate.  This takes its toll on the Spirit.  It takes a lot of energy to keep the level of hatred going.  These negative emotions are low vibration energies.  They leave us feeling lethargic or stressed.  They bring us out of alignment with God’s grace.  They leave us hardened and jaded.  They produce cynicism and discouragement.    I feel these emotions that are flowing through our mass consciousness.  Could things change if we change our hearts? 

It’s no longer about right or wrong.  It is about the kind of world we want to live in. Do we want a world of compassion or revenge?   The first step to change is in our own thinking.  We cannot change another person’s mind.  That is an inside job.  We can only change ourselves and the way we respond to others.

We are all here to express and experience who we really are.  What do you want that expression to look like?  What do you want to feel?

If I gave into hatred concerning my grandmother, my memories of her would be marred.  I don’t want to feel vengeance in my veins.  I want to feel love pure and unadulterated.  I want to understand and I want to move forward.  I choose how I feel and what is right for me as you choose what is right for you at each given moment.  Do we make these decisions consciously or do we spend our lives emotionally reacting? 

This is my challenge to you:  Decide who you are, who we are as a nation.  Are we compassionate and forgiving?  Do we have faith in an omnipotent God?  Or do we follow the road of revenge and building hatred.  Do we feed our fear?  Do we alter our lives because of our lack of faith?

Our scopes of understanding 9/11 are so narrowed.  We may not ever be able to fully understand it.  But now we are left with an opportunity, a fork in the road.  How will you experience your life?

“Forgiveness is your peace, for herein lies the end of separation and the dream of danger and destruction, sin and death; of madness and of murder, grief and loss.  This is the “sacrifice” salvation asks, and gladly offers peace instead of this.”  -A Course In Miracles

We can grieve and we can forgive.  Revenge and hatred are choices.