By the time you read this, 9/11 will have come and gone. Some of you will have been glued to the endless replays on TV, re-runs of the terrible events of ten years ago. Others will have grown sick of seeing the same images of the past, again and again. Most of us will remember the day, recalling where we were when we heard about it, just like the Kennedy assassination a generation before.
As I write this, I am sitting at one of my regular haunts in Wawota, "Carpenter's Inn." At least one of the church crowds is here this Sunday morning, there's lots of chatter and laughter, the fellowship of good friends. A child shouts "Daddy" from the other side of the room, and there's a clink of cutlery in the waitress station to my right. My wife is working today at the nursing home in Carlyle, and my teenage daughter is sleeping in. The sun is shining, and it is a beautiful day - an ordinary day.
9/11 ten years ago was an ordinary day too. It began with family and friends for many people, but it ended as a day that would never be forgotten. Many people were ushered into eternity that day, none of them expected it. Widows were made, orphans were created, and stories of heroes were told. But it started as an ordinary day.
Today in Wawota, we had the Sears National Kids Cancer Ride come through town, an extraordinary event on an ordinary day. I spoke with men and women, who are dedicated to getting rid of cancer forever. One man had lost his own child to cancer a number of years ago, his young son's face was pictured on the front of his cycle. "He rides with me today" he said. Cancer comes on an ordinary day too. Illness comes on an ordinary day. Death and life both happen on an ordinary day.
You see, every extraordinary day in history was really just an ordinary day, and every ordinary day is really an extraordinary day in disguise. That's something we rarely think about.
This day you are reading the paper, it may be the most common thing in the world to you, but for someone, somewhere, it is a life-changing day. Similarly, the most impactful or memorable days in your life, went by almost un-noticed by millions of other men and women across the planet.
Each day is a gift. Each day is a new opportunity in the ebb and flow of history, the rhythmic tide of your life and mine. How do we greet these days? Do we see each day as a blessing? Do we embrace the major challenges with courage and fortitude? Do we thank God for the very life that flows through us?
Did we hug our children today, and tell them how much they mean to us? Did we kiss our spouse? Did we smile at our workmates? Did we relish the experience of interacting with other people?
As we drove to work, did we see the beauty around us? Did we watch the sunlight glint off water? Did we feel the breeze on our face, or hear crickets in the fields? Did we take in the subtle beauty of colour? Did we listen to sounds of laughter or even crying? Did we let life get to us, or did we just exist?
You and I are transient beings, we are not here forever, and any single day could be our last day. The people who died on 9/11 never knew it would be their last, and the children who contacted cancer on any given day never knew it either. These are the facts of life that should change the way we live. They should wake us up to a new appreciation of living. 9/11 should move us not because of the deaths of others, but because of the reminder of our own mortality. Events like the cancer ride should do exactly the same.
And that is the whole point of this column today. Come on, take a moment right now to grab a sheet of paper and write down a list of the things you are thankful for. Go ahead, do it... Don't just let this moment wash over you without being moved to your very soul by the experience of living. Write it all down, every person you are thankful for, every blessing, and every unique precious gift of life that is in your life right now. Who cares if you miss a show on TV to do this!
Then, when you are all done, think about the things you have written. Take a good look at the good in your life. Let the good things resonate with you, let their positive vibration move through your very being and make you aware of the gift that life actually is.
Yes, this is an ordinary day, but on every ordinary day we are surrounded with endless blessings that should cause us to rejoice in living. If we are too busy to see it, then we are too busy. Today, I encourage you to see the blessings of the day and then to bless the day. Such moments of reflection can change your life in an instant. Enjoy the experience.
