Harriette reflects on September 11

Dear Readers: It’s hard to believe that it has been 20 years since the world changed forever — since those planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City, at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania. Where were you? How has your life changed? I remember the eerie cloud that hovered over downtown Manhattan for weeks before winds blew the stench and all that it contained all over the city. I remember everyone being stuck. And when our country snapped back to life, it felt like we were emerging out of a daze and into reaction mode. An eye for an eye. Anger. Fear. Hatred. Distrust.

Of course, we had to make efforts to protect our borders although, sadly, domestic terrorism seems now to be a bigger threat. But the fear that colored our lenses about people from other parts of the world has not served us well. We began to look with even greater hostility at anybody who didn’t “look like us.”

And that is what I want us to reconsider today.

If you think about recent years in our country and throughout the world, suspicions and judgments about others have reached an all-time high. How can we reverse that? How can we see others for who they are? I ask this with full sincerity because I believe that each one of us has the ability to bring peace in this world. We can honor the more than 3,000 souls we lost 20 years ago — and the thousands more since — by choosing to live honorably. We can make the effort each day to see the goodness in each other.

Send questions to askharriette@harriettecole.com or c/o Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.