Thoughts On the 17th Anniversary Of 9/11

There are certain events in history that are ingrained in our overall cultural memory. Those who were alive at that moment can easily recall where they where when that moment occurred and how it changed their life.

Tuesday is the 17th anniversary of 9/11.

My office is very close to where the  Twin Towers once stood.  Today, Lower Manhattan is as bustling and alive as it ever was. But it’s not hard to see that the scars of 9/11. While the Oculus is a beautiful building, anyone who enters or exits the building is aware that it is built on the ashes of the Twin Towers and those whose lives were lost on September 11, 2001.

May the lives of those lost that day be a blessing to us all and may we remember to love and appreciate the person next to us, even if they are different or if we disagree with them. If nothing else, 9/11 is a reminder of our shared humanity and at the end of day, we are our brothers and sisters keeper.

RIP.

 

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Thoughts On Rosh Hashanah

For many of us, our daily schedules are packed from the moment we wake up until the time we go to bed.  Between work, school, family, etc, the days go by pretty quickly.

Rosh Hashanah begins tomorrow night and ends on Tuesday. From my perspective, it’s not just time away from the everyday schedule. It’s a chance to reset, to take stock of the past year. What we did right, we did wrong, etc. One of the things I’ve noticed is that change is often recognized in hindsight and not in the moment. The person who I was last year is slightly different from the person I am today.

It’s also a chance for me to have a one on one conversation with my heavenly parent. I’m a person of faith, but like many people of faith, it takes a special occasion for me to enter a synagogue on a day that is not one of the High Holidays. That doesn’t mean that my faith is unimportant to me.

To all those who celebrate, may you be written into the book of life and have a sweet new year.