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Nine One One, 01
Fr. John Cusick
So much of life is pursuing dreams. "What
do you want to be when you grow up?" Though we might have answered
with a job or career: nurse, firefighter, teacher, priest, nun,
police officer; it was all about being the best person we could
be someday.
Will I be married? How many kids would I
like to have? Call it want you want - dreams, goals, plans, ends,
objectives. It has been a journey in each of our lives to try and
make happen what we have deemed important.
It wasn't surprising when she asked if we
could have breakfast and talk. We had done that many times. For
me, the breakfast conversation was always rich and fulfilling. She
asked many questions. She was a seeker of other people's ideas and
the wisdom to help her stay on track and keep making her dreams
real.
This time - from beginning to end - it would
be a different kind of breakfast. It still was a breakfast centered
on dreams, but this time it was all about not letting three very
different dreams die.
Dream One: Helping Others
Beside her dreams for herself and her career, she is one of those
thirty-somethings who had a dream about helping others. She believes
that education is a way out of poverty and hopelessness for young
people. With another friend, she has developed a scholarship program
among her peers that is putting sixty young people through private
high school this year. What a thrill it must be to see that happen:
to see so many friends, peers, classmates, and colleagues answering
the financial call to sponsor a teenager through four years of high
school. What a commitment and what an amazing amount of money that
takes today!
Dream Two: Being Your Best
This time she wanted to talk about not letting this wonderful scholarship
program die. She needed help and money to hire someone to run it.
She could not do it much longer without a staff. She invited a friend
to join us at breakfast. He and his wife were supporting one of
these teens. As the three of us spoke and planned, the conversation
moved to the work world and the economy that was making both of
their jobs more risky than ever. He was fearful that his dream would
die. He was still working for a dot com business. With some other
thirty-somethings, they were determined not to give up and not to
give in.
He mentioned that their (read "your")
generation had really never had a bad day. Oh, there were some ups
and downs in personal lives and with family, but in the world of
work and opportunity, they both agreed that life was very, very
good for their generation. Immediately following that agreed upon
reflection, a man walked by our breakfast table and announced that
a plane has just struck the World Trade Center. As horrible as that
sounded, the three of us presumed it was a terrible accident. We
could hear the television being turned on in the restaurant and
turned to witness the second plane hitting the second tower. "I
guess we are having our first bad day," was his immediate response.
Dream Three: Our Way of Life
Now the third dream was at risk: our American way of life. Suddenly
trying to help teens succeed in this world, and trying to keep a
job during shaky economic conditions did not seem very important.
The fear and shock of what we were seeing gripped us.
Sometimes you don't appreciate what you
have until it is at risk or gone. Everything seems different now
than it did on nine one one, 01. If nothing else, each one of us
has been thrown back inside ourselves to inventory our values and
dreams. What do we really believe? What do we really want? What
is most important?
What made the actions of 9/11/01 even more
horrific was that they were reportedly done in the name of God.
Can you imagine God willing violence, fear, terror and death on
people? Absolutely not! Not our God. Not the God of Jesus Christ!
The Greatest Dream: God's Dream
In this time of fear and uncertainty about the future, let's do
what we do best. Let's do what we have been doing all our lives:
dreaming about what can be. Let's dream in God's name of respecting
all people, and do it. Let's dream as Jesus did about bringing people
together, then go out and break down the barriers of suspicion,
hatred, and discrimination. Let us dream about being in communion
with God and one another. Let us frequently receive Holy Communion
and bring God's love and care to those we encounter every day.
In these difficult times, remember this
great spiritual strategy: fear constrains; love releases. As some
people released fear into God's world on 9/11, we will release God's
love into God's world each day. We will never stop believing in
Jesus Christ's great dream for the world: the Kingdom of God. Some
day God will reign in this world. There will be respect for all
people. The barriers that divide will become bridges that connect.
Some day we will live in peace and in profound respect for one another.
Right now, we can do our part to show others in our world what can
be.
Eileen, keep dreaming about getting teens
a great education. Scott, be the best worker and dot com-er in the
world. You may have experienced your first "bad day" as
an American generation on 9.11. Remember this: Fear and violence
will never stop us from living out God's dream in our country and
in this, God's world. Watch us!
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