For the past few days, like many of you I imagine, I’ve been thinking a lot about 9/11 – starting with how it doesn’t seem like it’s been 25 years. That and how much the world has changed since then. 

I watched the memorials – New York, Washington, Gander. I’ve read the blogs, articles, and essays. I’ve clicked on the YouTube, Tik Tok, Instagram, Threads and Facebook posts. It drew my attention all weekend. And through all of it, one thought stands out above all the rest. 

It doesn’t matter who you are, where you were, or even if you were alive yet that day. Your politics, your religion, your nationality, your race; none of it changes the most important lesson we all, every one of us, need to learn from what happened.

It likely won’t be a terrorist attack, I pray it isn’t. It may be a phone call, a wrong turn, a missed appointment, a medical diagnosis. It may not even be a bad thing. It might be a brief encounter with a friend, or a stranger; on the bus, at the cash register, or just walking down the street. 

But it will be a change, one that you didn’t see coming, and your life will never be the same.

So, how do we prepare for this possibly inevitable change?  

We can’t. It’s the very nature of “unexpected”. But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing we can do. As the great philosopher Pooh of Pooh Corner put it….

Carpe Diem – Seize the day!