September 12, 2001

Inexplicably, the sun came up again this morning, as if nothing had happened. As if the world—or America, at least—hadn’t been changed forever yesterday. As if thousands of innocent people hadn’t been killed for reasons I cannot comprehend, by…who? We don’t know yet.

Charles is still stuck in Midtown; the trains haven’t started running again yet. But thank god he’s safe.

The kids are still asleep upstairs. When they wake up, I’ll just want to hold them all day.

September 12, 2021

The sun came up again this morning, as if nothing had happened. As it always does, regardless of what’s happening anywhere on this little planet.

A new start.

The chance to hold our loved ones, even if they’ve moved away and we hold them in our hearts.

The chance to be the change we want to see in the world, whoever we are, wherever we are, and whatever is happening around us.

I learned something so profound once: That if we want to see more peace, love, kindness, fairness, justice, or positivity in the world, we should first look inside ourselves to see where there is any form of internal warfare, hate, unkindness, unfairness, harsh judgment or negativity, and begin by fixing that.

• See ourselves with loving eyes (like someone else might’ve on September 12, 2001)
• See the good in ourselves, not just what we see as shortcomings
• Say one nice, true, thing to ourselves, like, “I am kind” or “I try to do my best”
• Judge ourselves as we would judge someone we love: with compassion and understanding
• Think of the good things we do for others, through our families, work, or communities

Today, embrace the opportunity of a new day to allow a little bit of softness into yourself. Push yourself 1% less. When you walk by your reflection, focus on the part of yourself you like. Reflect on the last nice thing you did for someone and enjoy the warm feeling it brings. Write down a quote that makes you feel good and put it somewhere you’ll see it again tomorrow. Tell someone you love them, or you like them, or you think they’re nice, or just smile at them.

Be the sunshine.