She is in her 90s. On her wall is a certificate thanking her for serving her country as a part of the Army Nurse Corps during WWII. She told me the stories, how she tended the wounded. “All those boys with their missing limbs”, she said, “that still haunts me.”
As we talked, the news program running on her television in the background was dominated by images and talk about 9/11. And she says to me, “It’s been ten years now. What if we dealt with Pearl Harbor in that same way? What if we focused on it and kept on dredging it up? Sure, we had a day named after it, but that doesn’t mean we relive it all the time. How could you heal and move on?” Then, without blinking, she said “It’s time to do the same with the terrible events of 9/11. We have to move on and put it where it belongs, in the past, into history. We’ll remember, but it won’t dominate us.”
She looked at me to see how I’d take that.
I nodded in agreement. Yes, it’s time.
vitalwholeness 