Have you noticed that out of crisis comes clarity?
This year marked the 15th anniversary of 9/11, and I decided it was time to take off the rose-colored glasses and educate myself. When the attacks on the Twin Towers and The Pentagon happened, I was in grade school. While my teachers and parents led me well during that time, they also protected me by giving me only the information that was appropriate to my age – which meant more “big picture” and less details of what had actually taken place. So this year I visited the dedicated site—911memorial.org—and began reading everything on the timeline and listening to every voicemail, radio recording, and personal story they have captured.
After four or five hours absorbing all that I could, I walked away from my computer stunned and drained. This is the reality every day for thousands of people. How do they cope? How does anyone move on?
Maybe they don’t.
Maybe we never truly move on from such tragedy; maybe we move through it. This nation picked itself up and worked relentlessly to care for each other, rebuild a future of hope and take action. What I saw through my adult eyes this week was how America’s leadership grew as a direct result of walking through that crisis with clarity, compassion, and “beyond you” leadership.