What’s going on?

Where were you?  Yesterday marked another defining moment for those of us who call ourselves “Americans” and for all of those who are citizens of the world.  Almost ten years ago on 9/11 over 3,000 people lost their lives on an attack lead by Osama Bin Laden on U.S. soil.  The U.S. government vowed that he would be captured or killed, and justice would be served.  Yesterday, under the leadership of Barak Obama, the U.S. fulfilled its promise and U.S. special forces troops killed the human symbol of terrorism in the world.  Where were you when you heard the news?  In tandem did you immediately remember where you were on 9/11/2001?

Where are we now?  These have been defining moments since this new millennium started over a decade ago.  So much has happened that have been acts of humankind as well as Mother Nature.  We have witnessed tsunamis in Sri Lanka & Japan, Hurricane Katrina, earthquakes in Haiti & Japan, relentless tornadoes that have claimed over 300 lives in 2011, minors trapped & rescued in Chile, the worst winter in recent memory in the U.S., oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico, domestic terrorists who shot a congresswoman on U.S. soil, bombings in the subways of Madrid and countless other random acts of violence around the world, the wedding of the eldest son of the late Princess Diana of England, the capture of Saddam Hussein, the overturning of the Egyptian government, civil war in Libya, the U.S. economy in extreme debt, recession and on the brink of a second Great Depression and the election of the first Black president of the U.S.A. just to name a few.  Where were you?

Do you remember where you were during these events and how they have impacted your life?  Is anything different for you now?  Are you more connected or disconnected to the world around you?  Someone said to me once that things in general don’t change much.  People still get up, go to work and live their everyday lives in spite of the goings on that happen around them.  Are we as a world not changing at all?  Are things worse or better than they were ten years ago?  Are we more connected or disconnected to each other and the world at large?

An entire generation has been marked by the devastation that occurred in 2001 and all of the other events that followed.  They only know as their reality a world with terrorism, extreme natural occurrences and an America that has military presence in multiple regions in the Middle East (Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Pakistan).  What’s going on?

We have closed a chapter with Bin Laden defeated.  However, we must be aware that there are still lives that are in pieces because of the devastation I just mentioned.  We cannot forget the need of our brothers and sisters in the world.  Where were you when you heard the news?  Where are you now?  Are you connected?  What’s going on?...