Saturday, September 11, 2010

Brooke's Reflection

I don't have too much to say today.  Partly because I have that laundry list of other things to do from my life and partly because today is a day of reflection and remembrance.  It's a tradition I keep because nine years ago my inner life was so affected by that tragedy we've all come to know as simply "9/11."  My tradition of reflection and remembrance is simple.  I review the horrific recorded news coverage, so I won't forget.  Sometimes I watch the memorial service play out on television at Ground Zero.  But most of all I revisit that list of lives who passed on that day. 

That list shows us that those numbers are actually faces-with names, dreams, goals, lives, loved ones, and an inner purpose.  Some pull me in more than others-perhaps due to similar inner journeys, a past life connection, or a reflection that needs to be seen.  One in particular I've never forgotten-B.A.J.  Young at the time, only one year between us.  Ambitious, hard-working, intelligent, full of promise.  Beautiful, but not in the glamorous sense.  I speculate that she had stepped into a world that she thought she wanted at the time, but soon discovered there was something more important in life that was calling her.  She was in the process of making changes and moving herself towards that vision.  In this lifetime, we didn't know each other.  Yet strangely, I feel as though we do-somewhere, someplace, at some point in time. 

I like to think that's because we actually do.  Because nine years later, I don't have to look very far to see her reflection.  Nor do I have to dig very deep to realize the importance and meaning of the words that were the foundation of her efforts towards change.  Very simple, very profound, and very enlightened for someone who was only twenty-three years old.

"There are more important things in life than making money." 

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