911 – The Sirens are Blaring
By Brian Norris, ©2001
We won't forget the date 9-11 or as many observers pointed out, 911. It is an emergency indeed. On more than one front, what happened on September 11, 2001 in New York City and the U.S. Capital crystallized and sounded three crucial sirens that each of us should heed.
#1 FUTURE SECURITY
911 is a reality check for everyone. To be a “road warrior” takes on a whole new meaning. Once the nation's airport hubs reopen, we can expect greater delays as curbside check-in and ticket-less travel disappears, profiling increases, heightened surveillance, more frequent body and baggage checks and an eternal cloud of fear and suspicion to hover over the world's transportation systems. Don't be surprised if the government decides to re-regulate the airline industry.
Furthermore, we must recognize that the warning of previous generations is here; tragedy can strike any where. Even if we make the skies terrorist proof, what will stop a zealous, terrorist-financed group of computer mavericks from shutting down the national grid? What will stop someone, with no respect from human life to contaminate a nation's water supply or release deadly pathogens into the air or kidnap or murder innocent lives in the name of some cause?
When a person can build an e-bomb for under $400 by downloading instructions off the Internet and going to the local Walmart to procure the materials, we have to acknowledge that uncertainty is the only reality we have.
If we allow our governments to sit idly by and let those who have engaged in or supported terrorist activity to live, then we have no one to blame for any of this but ourselves. It's easy to suggest that bureaucracy and political correctness are too massive to promote change. Those are shallow excuses, the dialogue of feeble cowards with no consciousness or passion for the position they hold and the responsibility entrusted to them.
#2 HUMANITY
Beyond the confines of religion, politics or geographic disposition, we are brothers and sisters of the human race. Together, we must recognize that our reactions to 911 should not become a quest to avenge the dead or to retaliate against a zealous killer and his fervent followers. Nothing we do can resurrect or appease the dead. And as long as terrorists have countries willing to harbor them, there will always be an abundance of zealous killers (one after the other), with armies of fervent followers convinced that their actions are mandated by a Higher Power.
Instead, we must acknowledge that Terrorism is a crime against humanity and that Universal Laws have been broken:
One universal law shows us that every person has a right to live free from malice and servitude. Terrorism and those participating in it, have broken this law and thus forfeited their own right to be protected by it. Another law, the Law of Reciprocation, guarantees that those involved in any act or aspects of terrorism (ourselves included), will ultimately reap the fatal fruit of their labor.
We are also born with the gift of free will – Every decision we make and every action we take we has positive and negative consequences. The consequences of terrorism, in this case, are death and expulsion from the benefits (and saving grace) of humanity. Any territory or nation harboring these offenders should not be surprised by an unannounced invasion, demands for reparation or being permanently expunged from the face of the planet.
#3 SPIRITUALLY
This is an opportunity to discover who we really are as individuals. It is easy to be cheerful and extol the virtues of goodness when all is well, isn't it? When people we love are taken away suddenly – when our sense of national invincibility is forever shattered – when the alleged killers are so easy to hate – what we say, pray and do reveals our true self.
Regardless of how hard we want to believe to the contrary, the Creator does not take sides. The Creator has never responded to any side's desperate cry for revenge or victory. The Creator is not the spokesperson for Jihad or the Moral Majority or Inquisition or Genocide. Don't waste your prayers and affirmations asking for the Creator's intervention or wrath. Rather, use your prayers to ask for moral fortitude, discernment, compassion, unflinching faith and that the bombs our troops drop on the perpetrators hit their target the first time.
So listen to yourself. Do you like what you're hearing? Look at yourself. Do you like what you see? On every level of existence – individual, paternal, communal, national, continental or global, our final actions and ultimate beliefs are more important than who we contend to be to when others are watching.
If you see a woman wearing a chador (a covering worn by Muslim women) or a man wearing a turban resist the temptation to think ill will of them. The terrorists' beliefs DO NOT represent the values of the majority of Muslims or the Arab nations. That would be paramount to saying that all Christians support killing pro-choice doctors and homosexuals or that anyone who drives a Mercedes hates Jews or that all white people are bigots.
It's painful to imagine being on a plane flying through the air at over 400 mph per hour knowing that you are seconds away from fatally piercing the side of a building packed with 50,000 people. But in those final 10 seconds, what would you be thinking? Regretting? Wishing? Or would you be enveloped in a soothing calmness knowing that you lived life to your own highest standards? Would you know with certainty that everyone you had ever met was positively affected through that relationship, however brief?
As we watch the images and read the news we are permanently reminded that none of us knows what the next minute, hour, day or week will bring. All we can be certain of is that things change. And all we can affect, with any degree of certainty, is the present.
Are you doing what you love or finding some reason to love what you're doing? Do the people in your life know how you feel? Refuse to let time, distance, pride or shallow priorities sway you from connecting with them on a soul-to-soul level. Connect with the unbridled passion present in every molecule of existence and every second of time. Live every moment as if it were your last.
Brian Norris is a professional speaker and author of The Creative Sales and Marketing Manual and Escape Life Sucks Syndrome. He helps individuals to live with passion and positivity. He helps companies to improve morale, lead better and market their products and services more dynamically. You can reach Brian by emailing info@BrianNorris.com or calling 414-899-1905. .