A REFLECTION ON 9-11-2001
by Sunway
I was in LA. Sound asleep in a quiet hotel room when my phone started ringing at 5:50am. “Who in the world is calling me at this hour?” I thought. It was my friend and drummer, Shane. “Turn on the TV” was all he said. As I watched the horrific videos replay over and over of a plane slamming into the first World Trade Center tower, my mind went to my family in Hawaii. They were all asleep. I began calling. Repeating the words Shane had said to me. “Turn on the TV.” What I remember most was explaining to my 75 yr old grandfather what had happened. Somehow he didn’t want to hear about it. He said he’d check later. He said he was going back to sleep. I pleaded with him to check the news. I explained what had happened. I knew he understood what I was telling him but he would not turn on the TV, he said. Later I would come to realize it reminded him too much of the attack on Pearl Harbor. And he wasn’t ready to face that sort of horror and loss again.
And now, 19 years later, we are faced with a new and different kind of attack. And a new and different kind of loss. An attack on our health, firstly… but also an attack on our way of living, on what we perceive to be the loss of our freedoms, on our lives before COVID…. on, many say, the loss of our democracy. How do we learn from our past? Can we allow hindsight and the pain of what we’ve endured, reach us to move forward with compassion and unity? Like we did in the days, weeks, and months after 9/11? To not rely so much on what we’re told, but more on what we know and what we feel? I still have faith in the greater good. I still believe in that light that shines deep within no matter how much chaos and destruction surrounds it. Tell someone you love them today. Attempt to listen to understand, not to respond. Our power is in our own hands. Not in some politician’s, not in some pastor’s, or rabbi’s, or some guru’s words. Definitely not in what we see in social media or on cable network TV. Trust yourself. Love your family and friends. Take care of your neighbors. And never forget.
Sunway is a professional singer-songwriter from Honolulu, Hawaii.
