The Day The World Stood Still
My status of “full time college student” was only a few weeks old. I was still adjusting to the routine and schedule of things.
That morning wasn’t much different than any others. I woke up, I showered (quickly), I threw my hair in a clip and walked to class. When I returned to the dorm afterwards, I noticed that I had forgotten my key and was now locked out. Fooey.
I searched and searched for the RA, but she was no where to be found. In fact, the building seemed eerily quiet.
I sat in the lobby until someone came in that could help me. As she was retrieving a spare key, I remember her saying, “did you hear?”
No I hadn’t heard, I was too busy trying to stay awake in class and find a key to my dorm room.
Once inside, I turned on my 13” tube tv that sat atop a dresser owned by the state. I wanted to find out for myself. Something tragic had happened that morning and the whole world stopped spinning on it’s axis.
That was September 11, 2001.
The rest of that day and the rest of that month is a blur. I remember going home and I remember being afraid. What was next? What does this mean?
After some time though, we all returned to campus and to classes themselves. If you asked me what happened to the economy, I couldn’t tell you because I was an 18 year old college student just trying to turn in her projects on time.
And yet somehow it feels like we’ve returned to that place once again. History, they say, repeats itself.
As I work to swat away the worry and the panic and hysteria that others have seemed to embrace, I come back to those questions from years back.
What’s next? What does this mean?
None of us know of course, but that doesn’t mean we don’t try to figure it out. The lack of control sends us spiraling; this is a sensation we are not familiar with. Another thing cancelled so we adjust only to have that one cancelled as well. Whoomph.
All of a sudden, things that seemed so worthy and important of energy last week are empty this week. I imagine someone who’s gone through a life-altering diagnosis has felt this all before. The lens on life has been altered. Talks on time management and how to tidy a pantry seem so trivial.
The awareness that we gain in the cosmic, worldly time out is our gift, our blessing. I really hope we don’t miss it. The speed of our busyness, the distraction of our to-dos, the push to sell more and more, the never-ending thirst to buy and get, the fake rest, the constant cheer chasing and desire to keep up.
This pause is time for reflection and reassessment.
Where is this car going?
Who am I running over? Is it myself?
Who am I taking with me? Did I forget some important passengers way back there?
How did it get up to that speed? Did you know it could go that fast?
During this time where the world seems to be standing still, I invite you to open the present. Find it amidst the worry and the fear and the mayhem.
What needs to be realigned? What needs to be purged?