I was in bed watching the morning news when I saw the first plane hit the towers. At first, there was confusion, “Did that just happen? Did that plane really fly into the building?” And then…moment by moment the horror, the tragedy, the trauma unfolded. 

My first reaction was that I needed to get to work–people were going to need help. And then curiously in retrospect, I decided to first go to my water aerobics class! (Physical activity prepares me to be strong, empathetic, and calm in difficult times.)

On that day Intermountain Healthcare had employees in New York City that were trying to get home to Utah, as well as visitors from New York City trying to contact their loved ones and return to their forever changed city. All Intermountain resources were focused on helping these frantic people find information and transportation. 

I took a call from a person standing in a telephone booth, several blocks from the decimated towers. He was in shock and desperate to contact his family. As I tried to be a voice of calm, I could feel the craziness, the madness of the situation come through the telephone line.

For months, I became anxious when I heard a plane fly overhead at my home or when I boarded a plane and saw the newly installed doors to the pilot’s quarters. But my heart was lifted as heroic stories emerged. Who can imagine the courage of those who helped others escape the towers or who tried to stop the terrorists on the airplane? How did the first responders go back day after day to the rubble to recover whatever they could to help the survivors remember their loved ones? How have families moved forward after losing their loved ones in such a wretched way?

Selflessness was displayed over and over again in those days, exposing the truth that there are good people who are willing to risk their lives for others. Those people are still showing up today in the attacks we’re experiencing. Healthcare workers, police, EMT’s, fire fighters, schoolteachers, the military–all of them risking their lives to protect us amidst disease, fires, hurricanes, contention, and violence.

We Choose How We Respond

Even when bad things happen around us, we still get to choose how we respond. David Bednar, a leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reminds us of this truth, “...we have been blessed with the gift of moral agency, the capacity for independent action and choice. Endowed with agency, you and I are agents, and we primarily are to act and to not just be acted upon. To believe that someone or something can make us feel offended, angry, hurt, or bitter diminishes our moral agency and transforms us into objects to be acted upon. As agents, however, you and I have the power to act and to choose how we will respond.” 

In a crisis, the easy way is to get angry, blame others, complain, find fault, give up, self-justify, or indulge in self-pity. But the better choice is to take responsibility for what’s in our control, forgive, be kind, be grateful, and look for ways to relieve suffering. This is not the easy choice, but it’s the hero’s choice. It’s also the source of peace and strength in difficult times for you and your family.

Two Challenges for You

This Saturday, the 20th Anniversary of 9/11/01, I challenge you to do two things. One, thank someone around you who is working hard to protect us. They need our support and encouragement. Second, reflect on how you’re responding to the wars around us. On 9/11, we lost 2,996 lives. On this one day, September 7, 2021, we lost 2,226 lives due to Covid in the United States. Are you taking responsibility for how you react? Are you being the person you want to be? When the crisis is over or subsides, will you be proud of how you responded? 

Consider This

“Great occasions do not make heroes or cowards; they simply unveil them to the eyes of men. Silently and imperceptible, as we wake or sleep, we grow strong or weak; and at last, some crisis shows what we have become.”   –Brooke Foss Westcott