Today is the 8th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. I still go through the mental exercise because I'm a schoolteacher, so while many in the world might be content to put the memory aside and move on, I always make sure to remember and pass it along.
I try to do it in a way that's productive, though. Fostering anger and hatred in the next generation isn't exactly helpful for anyone.
This event is one of many in our recent history that has pointed out the need for world change. Going the way that we're going has produced some progress, but there's still a lot of unresolved tensions out there. We cannot simply sweep them under the rug and say, "Well, that's the past. This is now. Let's start over." There's too much there to ignore.
Instead, it's time to reach out to others. It's time that kindness became action and not merely attitude. It's time to push others up instead of down.
Therefore, in the spirit of this, I did 1 pushup for all 3,017 people whose lives ended in the attacks. I suppose it could be seen as a selfish act - it doesn't directly help them or their families, and it didn't bridge the divides between people.
All I did was to recognize an injustice of the past, pay my respects to the fallen, reaffirm my commitment to do something positive, and then found my own way to symbolize that commitment in the form of some kind of personal action.
So yeah, perhaps today's act was for me. Tomorrow's is for everyone else.
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