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4 THE RURAL VOICE
Keith Roulston
Tragedy shakes our world
Sometimes it doesn't pay to be
efficient. I already had the column for
this space written before the terrible
events of September 11. I tore it up. It
didn't seem relevant any more.
That column spoke of the fact
that, with Thanksgiving coming up,
so many of us
don't seem to be
thankful for what
we have, instead
only thinking
about what we
didn't have. I
wondered what
could make
people come to
focus on the
blessings of their
lives instead of
the perceived
hardships.
Perhaps
September 1l's
terrorists attacks in the U.S. have
done it. Suddenly the ordinary prob-
lems of life seem petty by compar-
ison to this massive destruction of
property and more than 6,000 lives.
We've begun to question all of our
assumptions, to re-examine our lives
and our lifestyles. Something good
comes out of everything, and that
may be the good that comes out of
this terrible tragedy.
Recently a CBC reporter visited
Ann Arbour, Michigan to report on
how "Middle America" was reacting
in the aftermath of the event. One
woman interviewed said that one
cannot know true happiness without
having experience great sorrow.
We've thought we were happy in our
career achievements or in our
possessions, she said, but with this
world -changing event, we now know
that this wasn't true happiness.
The catastrophic loss of life in
New York and Washington, the
pictures of relatives of the missing
wandering the streets, putting up
posters with pictures of their family
members and asking everyone they
see for help, have reawakened for
many the importance of family,
something we've taken for granted
during our long period of peace and
prosperity.
Most people in Canada today have
Our 'troubles'
seem petty after
September 11
never lived through war, never
through the kind of economic
de Iastation the Great Depression
brought. We've lost our ability to
keep things in perspective because
we've never had anything really bad
on a national scale, to compare to.
I'm reminded of a saying Gord
Surgeoner likes to use in his talks:
"A person with a full stomach has
many problems. A person with an
empty stomach, only one."
The tragedy has adjusted our
attitude in many ways. It has taught
humility. The most powerful nation
on earth was brought to its knees by
a small group of dedicated fanatics
who were willing to give up their
lives doing the unthinkable. Among
the targets of their attack, some of
the most powerful business leaders in
the world who worked in the prestige
and luxury of one of the world's
biggest buildings. The higher up the
building, the greater the prestige —
yet the more vulnerable under the
conditions of attack.
We have all learned that we aren't
truly in control of our lives, something
that many, particularly in the prosper-
ity and security of North America,
were mistakingly thinking they were.
This lesson in vulnerability has
renewed the importance of spiritual-
ity in our lives. God suddenly seems
important in the view of the immen-
sity of the evil in the world. At the
same time we marvel at the mis-
placed religious faith that the zealots
who sacrificed their own lives to
serve their god. Could we have such a
strong faith?
In New York there were also
examples of people who gave their
lives to help others. Firefighters and
police officers rushed to help when
the first explosions rocked the World
Trade Centre. Many sacrificed their
lives when the building collapsed.
By jarring us with a huge dose of
reality, this tragedy may bring some
balance back to our lives, to take us
outside our own petty concerns. For
the sake of the victims, let's hope this
is a long term change, not just a
passing fad.0
Keith Roulston is editor and
publisher of The Rural Voice. He
lives near Blyth, ON.