Have You Done Your Homework Yet?

Erik A. Fisher, Ph.D. September 11, 2002 www.erikfisher.com

It has already been one year since September 11^th. After the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, I challenged you to assess how you were living your life with an article entitled, “What Are You Going to Do About It?”. I am now asking you if you have done your homework. I know that those experiences shook most of us to the depths of our souls. We looked at the world we live in and many of us blamed those that committed those acts, many felt anger, rage and hatred, and many felt victimized. We saw incredible acts of bravery and unprecedented outpourings of generosity, while at the same time, we saw people living in fear and terror. We have pulled together as a country, but have we pulled together as a human race? While we seek to understand those who could have committed these acts, have we sought to understand ourselves?

I truly believe that the path to understanding others is through understanding ourselves. We may focus on terrorism and what creates it globally, but remember that in the past years, terrorism has visited our schools, our churches, and our heartlands and those that have visited that terror upon us have been our own citizens. Regardless of who caused the terror, it is emotion that feeds terrorism (hatred, fear, ignorance, powerlessness, arrogance…) and emotion that terrorism seeks to create. We, as a people, have shared our grief, our anger, our powerlessness, our pride… We should not see emotion as the enemy, but instead should seek to understand it and see it as a pathway to our healing and truth. It is not emotion that commits acts of aggression and terror, it is the way that we view our emotions and what we do with them that create the problems.

It is arrogance that sets one up for a fall. As a nation and as individuals, there have been times when we have stood on our arrogance and used it to judge others. That is what sets one up as a target for others. How many times have you seen someone brag, only to hope that they fall “flat on their face?” Pride is when we believe in ourselves to our core, arrogance is when we use a shield of false pride to protect us from our own fears of inadequacy. It is time to stand in our pride. It is arrogance that calls us a superpower. It is pride that created our nation.

There is a great deal of uncertainty as we look to the future, but one thing is sure: you will live everyday of your life within yourself. I asked you before and I will ask you again, “Have you lived your life with Truth, Honor, and Integrity to yourself and others, not just one of the last 365 days, but every one of those 365 days.” Only you can answer that question.

We are all human and are imperfect. We will all have our times of dishonor, untruths, and living with a lack of integrity. Do we accept our humanness and learn for these experiences, or do we continue to blindly make those mistakes? Life has gone on in the last year, and we must go on, but did you take something with you from this date? Do you appreciate life that much more each day you are alive? Have you learned about the traps of hatred and judgment? Have you seen the strength of love? Do you treat your family, your neighbors, your friends, your co-workers, and yourself with that much more respect and dignity? Have you done your homework? Not just today, but everyday…

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