9-11.....Where were you? What will you do?

I get chills and become teary eyed just writing this post. I don't think anyone can possibly ever forget where they were those moments where our world changed forever. I think it is forever etched into our minds and subconscious. 
Where was I?I was at a meeting at my sons school and ironically was due to head downtown into the city right after that meeting! As we were leaving, we started to hear rumblings that there had been a plane crash/"accident" in the city, within minutes we realized it was much much more than that. I remember walking around literally numb for days on end. I remember feeling like I didn't know if our world was coming to an end on that fateful day of 9/11. I gathered my kids and my husband and we say next to the TV together literally for days, feeling dumbfounded, as we tried to make sense of what was happening. It was and still is so utterly surreal.  As much as looking at the images is a haunting, chilling and heart wrenching reminder of that catastrophic day I think too, it is important to remember it, never forget it and to honor all of those lost innocent lives.
What will I do?It is even more important that they did not die in vain. I hope that through this unspeakable tragedy, everyone learned something from that day. As I started to think more about the events that precipitated that day, I realized at its core what fueled such a violent, hateful act was all about differences, judgement, an inability to understand each other and extreme hatred. I pledged to become more about tolerant, more forgiving and to accept easier. Where does that start? With our children. Children are not born to hate, to discriminate to hurt or to judge. This is learned behavior. No matter what color you may be, what race, what religion or what culture you represent. If there is one lesson to be learned from this life changing day, let it be  one for all of us to look within ourselves and open our hearts and our minds to be a kinder, less judgemental, more compassionate person who will pledge to try to understand, accept and tolerate others regardless of our differences. I think we should have a national day of tolerance. A day where we reach out to talk to someone who is different than who we are. It begins with one person. And this is something we are all capable of, by starting in our very own homes with our very own children. Where were you? What will you do?

Lets honor those that died and make their memory the catalyst for change and a never ending quest for our world to live in peace.

If you ddint't see the amazing guest post that Mary Ann of Classic Casual Home did on my love for pillows yesterday please visit! LOVE her blog, so just in case you missed it....click here.