To walk

I haven’t posted for a while, but I find myself at the anniversary of September 11.

It is my first instinct to look back on the evils and the loss of life - to remember those taken too soon. As I watch the news coverage again, I find tears spilling out.

But I also find hope.

I find hope in those who were first responders. I find hope in those who continue to live despite loss. I find hope in those who dropped future plans to defend our nation.

I initially wrote a post about where I was that day, but I have lived so much since September 11, 2001. I have grown. I have learned.

I’ve learned to look more deeply into the eyes of those I pass, to smile more genuinely at those in the coffee shop, to offer help to busy moms at the park who seem so overwhelmed, to chat with the elderly sitting in waiting rooms yearning to talk to someone – anyone.

I have wept in the funeral pew for friends who have taken their own lives. I have held tight to the shoulders of family, friends and strangers who suffered abuse. I have watched helplessly as students allowed their lives to be derailed, methodically, decision-by-decision.  I have seen my own life affected by my own poor choices. I’ve felt unforgivable. I’ve felt unlovable.

There is a severe hurt that lurks in so many of our hearts, and it is that hurt which causes us to make decisions we do not intend to make – how else can we explain such evil in our world? It certainly isn’t love that motivates these poor choices; it is hurt.

As a Catholic, I know that we are called to walk alongside those we encounter – to meet them where they are. We are called to listen to the broken and to laugh with the joyful. We are called to love ourselves, so that we can more fully love others. We are called to tell others they are loved – wholly and absolutely -- by God.

We are called to walk – because the journey is long and the journey is hard, but to have someone to walk with us – that makes all the difference.

I choose to walk.