Last night, we watched Spielberg's documentary about 9/11 - at least two or three hours of it. It was so moving, so emotionally trying and so beautiful.
The title of the next chapter in "When Things Fall Apart" is this very moment is the perfect teacher. I was thinking about the anniversary of 9/11 - now ten years. I was remembering all the feelings of that day, with my ex-husband and my daughter, with our downtown community. I think I have never experienced anything as profound as that experience, other than giving birth to Zoe. It was quite a learning experience - mostly about the power of community, and going through difficult feelings, of friends and a city coming together. Of hatred and forgiveness and of feeling so out of control as our country moved in directions that felt so wrong to so many of its citizens. It feels like we've been shut down for these past ten years and maybe now that politics feel so out of touch with real life - now that we have a Tea Party and Republicans who are trying to destroy the middle class, maybe something will wake us all up.
It is quite uncomfortable but as Pema Chodron says, "feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually clear moments that teach us where it is we're holding back. They teach us to perk up and lean in when we feel we're rather collapse and move away."
To me, that is where this country is right now, collapsed and feeling hopeless. Maybe we need to really lean in and perk up. Maybe this anniversary of 9/11 will bring us back to life, to letting go of the grief and seeing the power of what can be done in the shadow of such a horrific event; life and art, incredibly difficult hard work and genius will be so evident in what they have created in such a sacred place.
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