Monday Motivation 9/17a/2001

Coping with the firestorm

In the 21 months that I've been writing Monday Motivation, I have always tried to keep the overall tone of these pieces positive. There is so much negative material that already surrounds us every day. From the newspapers and TV news, to the negative attitudes that abound, it's sometimes a fight to keep yourself positive.

And this week, it's especially difficult to be positive.

As I write this on Wednesday evening, the TV is still filled with the reports of the horrendous destruction of the World Trade Center and the attack on the Pentagon. Thousands of people lost their lives because of a few fundamentalist religious militants.

It's a tragedy, and there's nothing anyone can do to change it. All we can do is cope.

Some of you reading this piece may know someone who lost their lives in either the WTC loss, the Pentagon attack, or in the airliners that were hijacked and used as guided missiles.

If that's so, realize that all of us who have seen those pictures feel your loss.

We have all heard the stories of last minute phone calls made with words of love to family. We've heard of the heroic measures taken by the New York City firefighters and emergency personnel. We've grieved with the military personnel who talked of family members who would never be coming home.

Our eyes have filled with tears, just like yours.

This has been a collective mourning. This is one of those times when no words will do. This is a time of hugs and tears.

The terrorists who are behind this attack, should remember the words of Japanese Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto, who said, after the Pearl Harbor bombing:

"I fear we have only awakened a sleeping giant, and filled him with a terrible resolve."

Never have those words been truer than now. These terrorist acts have awakened a sleeping giant. And we won't sleep again -- at least not until the terrorists who funded and planned this attack are brought to justice.

As far as the terrorists who died in the crash -- well, to hell with all of them.

That's where they belong.

Many of you have probably read J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books. If you haven't read them yet, I heartily recommend them. At the end of Book 4, Harry is talking to his friend Hagrid. Harry has been through a terrible ordeal. Hagrid, who speaks a bit roughly, asks Harry how he's feeling ("yeh" means "you").

"Yeh all righ'?" he [Hagrid] said gruffly.

"Yeah," said Harry.

"No yeh're not," said Hagrid. "Course yeh're not. But yeh will be."

Those are words for all of us. We're not all right -- but we will be.

A more positive Monday Motivation will return next week. A more positive edition for this date will be released then as well.

We'll get through this week -- together.

Copyright, 2001, by Daryl R. Gibson and WeekdayWisdom.com. All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted for the non-commercial use of this document as long as it retains this copyright and all lines and images remain intact. This does not allow the compilation and marketing of this material, whether for commercial or non-commercial use. Join us at http://www.WeekdayWisdom.com.