You don’t have to wait for something terrible to happen to look at your neighbors and see what connects them to you rather than what pushes you apart. We are more closely tethered by the things we hope for and strive towards than by pain and loss and anger.
You don’t have to wait for catastrophe to ask how you can serve your community or your country, and the most compelling and empowering reasons to serve - the ones that can sustain a life of service - are more often personal, rather than borne from some kind of nationally mobilizing event. Find your reason and raise your hand. There’s a fire that needs putting out, a child that needs a mentor, a team that needs a coach, and a platoon that needs a point man out there right now waiting for you.
Bear in mind that righteousness is more easily wrought from construction than destruction. But, if you find yourself in the business of destruction by necessity, make sure to dedicate time and effort into building the people around you, investing in their growth and guarding their value and humanity.
“Never forget” doesn’t mean to hold on tightly to the anger and fear and pain we felt 25 years ago. It means to hold on tightly to the values and hope that draw us together as a nation, to look for those values first in your neighbors and fellow countrymen before you see your differences, and to live those values through your actions everyday. So, “never forget” today, tomorrow, and always.
-Mike