I've hardly been able to watch the 9/11 tributes and memorials on television. I'm filled with such profound grief and loss.
I help people heal from grief and loss almost everyday. I lead grief therapy groups. I administer grief assessments and give therapeutic assignments such as writing letters to deceased love ones. I listen to the letters people read and try to remain very present. I visit people in hospital who are on the brink of death and do my best to offer words of hope and consolation to the loved ones who hold vigil at their sides. Grief work is part of my professional life.
Yet on this 9/11, I feel the tears flow and a cloud of despair threatens to overtake my heart as I contemplate the profound loss that families still live with today as they long for mothers, fathers, children, spouses, partners, or friends whom they will not see again in this life.
One thing I know about our shared grief on this day: we must feel it. We must feel the pain and sadness and anger and loss. Those feelings help us to remember. They ensure that the lives lost on that day will continue to be honored in our lives.
The grief we feel plays a very important role: it helps us to never forget.
So today, I honor the legacy of the many people whose lives were taken ten years ago. In my heart I pray and ask God to watch over America and the nations of the earth.
I will go to church and gather with friends and family and be thankful. I will pray with them for peace on earth. I will re-commit myself to the work of healing and reconciliation here and beyond.
Our shared grief helps us to remember. It binds us together as humankind. It motivates us to carry on. It propels us to choose hope over despair, love over fear, life over death.
Don't be afraid to feel the grief today. It serves very important purposes in our lives.
