I’m in New York this week and today this City will go take some time at 8:46 AM to remember the fallen from that tragic day.

The modern-day resilience movement began 18 years ago today. We all began to understand that we could not control highly unpredictable events from happening and so we somehow had to do our best to be ready for them. On one side of the equation, that meant cameras on every street corner in every major city in the country perhaps reducing our personal privacy. On the other hand, it provided new technology to help reduce crime and provide a new layer of personal security.

Our resilience from this day took us in directions we could never possibly anticipate as its origins in tragedy tested our very fabric and will .

We’ve made some progress.

From an economic point of view there is no doubt that our country has recovered. The stock market is at an all-time high, the unemployment rate is at an all-time low Technology and health care are leading us down new paths like autonomous vehicles and robotic surgery.

On other fronts, we are not doing so well. We are still in one of the longest wars in our history. Our country is sharply divided politically with people hating other’s ideas. The middle class is disappearing as the economic divide between rich and poor is widening. Non-profits struggle to help those in greatest need.

If some wallets are fuller, much of our common national communal spirits have been diminished.

Resilience is about bouncing forward and not just bouncing back. A few years ago, I took this picture of the Freedom Tower. Now, if only that the sun’s reflection off the gleaming new building could help illuminate our souls as well, then we might find our healing from 9/11 had truly begun.

© Richard Citrin, All rights reserved, 2019

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