When the World Stopped Turning...

I remember where I was. It was just past dawn. The sun was coming up beautifully in the east as I walked outside from a morning aerobics class. A man came running out and said "A plane just hit the World Trade Center."

Strange.

I went home and went to sleep only to get a phone call from my husband.

"Another plane hit the other tower. One of them has collapsed."

So, I gathered my sweet little ones and walked to my sister's house to watch the news.

And we all cried together. Ash covered faces I will never forget.

And the days to follow were filled with more faces I will never forget. Bravery I will never forget. Unity I will never forget.

A nation that turned to God, turned to each other and found the strength to carry on.

I hope that we are better for what we learned five years ago. I hope that we have been moved to be more compassionate, more kind, more loyal, more grateful -- especially for the blessings of living in this country.

I fear that this may not be the case, that there is bitterness and hatred and terror creeping into our hearts as we continue to figure out how to deal with the threat that we were introduced to half a decade ago.

I commit in my own life to be the change I wish to see in the world. I cannot change the hearts of terrorists, of Rebublicans, of Democrats. But I can change my own and touch the hearts of others with love, kindness and gratitude.

May the memory of this day move you to do the same. To change your heart and change your little corner of the world by the way you treat those around you.

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Here is a poem I wrote exactly five years ago.

September 11, 2001

A crash from heaven shocks each of us awake.

Out of peace

These things that happen elsewhere
have scrambled over my back fence.

And my heart is overstuffed with grief.

Tomorrow we can muddle over changes
and how to make the cowards pay.

Today my soul is a prayer
for thousands of souls lost
and millions more grieving.

Tonight the stars will be weeping.