What is it about crisis and tragedy that inspires the human spirit to behave in the way that ultimately I think we all want to see?
Think back to how you felt and behaved after 9-11
I know I can vividly remember where I was, who I was with, and the days that followed in details that remain etched in memory. Since then I have met and talked to so many people with memories, connections and contributions that typify the human spirit or as the Nguni Bantu term calls it “Ubuntu”
Loosely translated it means “humanity” or “I am because we are,” or “humanity towards others,” but is often used in a more philosophical sense to mean “the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity
I am reminded each year of so many who lost so much and the many who gave what they could. My friend Dirk Stanley (@DirkStanley) who marshaled resources and set up a medical triage in New York to cope with the flood of victims. Families who were stranded in Canada at Gander airport where the local community came together to host and support the near 6,000 stranded passengers by a community that only numbered 10,000. Many who lost loved ones, family and friends in the destruction, the emergency services and even surviving family of the crew from the aircraft that were lost on that day.
Had your neighbors suddenly become nicer that you now reached out to them, checked in to make sure they were ok and perhaps spoke to them over the fence for the first time? Had everyone in the store suddenly become super friendly that you looked up, acknowledged others and even managed an awkward smile or nod as they walked past instead of the usual head down navel-gazing normal?
On this day my way of remembering the sacrifices of the many is to honor them and their lives by focusing on the positive in my fellow humans, not just today but each and every day that I am lucky enough to be alive and able to contribute.
