Perhaps it is because the anniversary of that fateful day is quickly approaching, but I am seeing more and more remembrances of 9/11 and how people's lives have changed since that day. But here is one that should be remembered - not because it is about what happened - but because it reminds us of what life should mean to all of us.
When Lisa Beamer was Good Morning America, (if you remember, she's the wife of Todd Beamer who said 'Let's Roll!' and helped take down the plane over Pennsylvania that was heading for Washington DC back on 9/11) she was talking about what life has been like since he has been gone. She said it's the little things that she misses most about Todd, such as hearing the garage door open as he came home and her children running to meet him. Lisa recalled this story:
"I had a very special teacher in high school many years ago whose husband died suddenly of a heart attack. About a week after his death, she shared some of her insight with a classroom of students. As the late afternoon sunlight came streaming in through the classroom windows and the class was nearly over, she moved a few things aside on the edge of her desk and sat down there.
With a gentle look of reflection on her face, she paused and said, 'Class is over, I would like to share with all of you, a thought that is unrelated to class, but which I feel is very important. Each of us is put here on earth to learn, share, love, appreciate and give of ourselves. None of us knows when this fantastic experience will end. It can be taken away at any moment.
Perhaps this is God's way of telling us that we must make the most out of every single day. Her eyes, beginning to water, she went on, 'So I would like you all to make me a promise. From now on, on your way to school, or on your way home, find something beautiful to notice.
It doesn't have to be something you see, it could be a scent, perhaps of freshly baked bread wafting out of someone's house, or it could be the sound of the breeze slightly rustling the leaves in the trees, or the way the morning light catches one autumn leaf as it falls gently to the ground. Please look for these things, and cherish them. For, although it may sound trite to some, these things are the "stuff" of life. The little things we are put here on earth to enjoy. The things we often take for granted.
The class was completely quiet. We all picked up our books and filed out of the room silently. That afternoon, I noticed more things on my way home from school than I had that whole semester. Every once in a while, I think of that teacher and remember what an impression she made on all of us, and I try to appreciate all of those things that sometimes we all overlook.
Take notice of something special
you see on your lunch hour today.
Go barefoot.
Or walk on the beach at sunset.
Stop off on the way home tonight
to get a double dip ice cream cone.
For as we get older,
it is not the things we did that we often regret,
but the things we didn't do.
And if nothing else .... remember this:
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take,
but by the moments that take our breath away.
