Sept. 11 is more than just a day we remember the horrific attack on our country and all the devastation and loss of life. It’s a day when we banish division, hatred, animosity, self-centeredness, and all the evils that are tearing our country apart. Let’s let today be the re-start of a nation-family that honors, respects, and listens to each other and has the highest good for our fellow Americans–and the whole human family–at heart.
It really WAS “the year that changed America.” While living through it in my twenties, I didn’t realize that, of course. It just seemed that a whole lot of bad stuff and changes were happening.
I recorded the four-part series “1968: The Year that Changed America” and have just finished watching it. I realize now that my mind, in its mercy, stretched out all those events over several years rather than containing them in that one actual year.
I realize, too, that 1968 changed not only my country but me, too. I became more aware of the atrocities people can carry out on each other and of the ever-present good people who step in to help victims; of unjust laws and people acting to change them; of prejudice and bigotry and those of all colors who unite to fight them; of senseless violence and people who mourn, then rise to say “Never again!”
Watching “1968” had an odd effect on me. It saddened me as I remembered my emotions at the time. And it encouraged me, because it reminded me that Americans are resilient, determined, and caring. It made me more optimistic as I live through this current turbulent era.
And it reminded me that God truly does bless America, and He does it through us, the people.
I just thought that these numbers were interesting. Food for thought.
Here’s an interesting set of figures for our topsy-turvy world:
Just TEN Americans made a total of FIFTY BILLION DOLLARS in one year.
That’s enough to pay the salaries of over a million nurses or teachers or emergency responders.
That’s enough, according to 2008 estimates by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the UN’s World Food Program, to feed the 870 million people in the world who are lacking sufficient food.*
*[Paul Buchheit, Common Dreams, 11/19/12]