September 11, 2001... a day when we as Americans were truly united in our pain, our sorrow, our anger. It was a day of introspection and petty grievances were put into proper perspective.

In one moment we realized and appreciated all the groundwork and sacrifice that our forefathers and foremothers had laid down before us. We inherited this democracy, our freedom, our land of liberty.

We are a model to the rest of the world, but how can we seek to enlighten the mentality of others while ignorance still undermines us. It is time to implement a new kind of task force into our society... a task force of humanity. We need to face our weaknesses and discard old ideas that hold us back from moving on to advanced levels of thinking and feeling.

Our potential to flourish is unlimited. If we think America is great now...imagine what it could be like if our school systems were revised to become genuine institutions of higher learning. If we want to do away with abuse we can teach children healthy coping skills so they can grow up and be positive role models themselves. If we want to abolish racism we can. We can teach love, empathy, tolerance,...we have the power to change the world by changing it’s mentality.

In this new dawn we can emerge a more unified people. We can pool our diversified talents together to transform this country. We can make America stronger ,healthier, wiser; We can make America beautiful.

STRAY HUMAN

The color, hot-pink caught my eye as I neared the intersection. All dressed up, hair all done, hands bent inward, legs...thin, sitting beside the stop sign in a wheel chair underneath the blazing sun -- a woman, older than my grandmother, waited patiently, ...I don’t think they are coming back.

One Millisecond Between Life and Death

Yesterday, my kids and I were almost the victims of a freak accident -- one of those incidents where you are truly in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It’s amazing how the brain can scan a situation and in a flash come up with a survival solution.

I was about to pull out of my driveway on the way to my sisters house. In the back of my mind I was thinking about how she is always teasing me about driving so cautiously . I drive a tempo. This car just doesn’t have the zip to bob and weave.

But yesterday, as I waited patiently for a car to pass, I thought, no I’m gonna go. I can make this. Why should I be so laid back and wait? I have plenty of time to go. So I went...I punched it... I Squalled tires... I was laughing. The people in the sports car behind me were probably cussing because they had to slow down...not much just a milliseconds worth.

A fraction of a moment later and the smile still on my face, my son is yelling MOMMMMMM! A TREEEEEEEEE! It seems just last week I was thinking to myself: What are the odds of driving down the road on a nice sunny day and have a tree fall onto your car?

Here is one of those moments where your brain is flooded with adrenaline and you experience time as though you are in dream mode. I looked over at my son who is a good actor and is always playing jokes. My brain scanned and recognized true terror in his face I didn’t even have to look up or even think about the situation, but to act on it. I swerved to the far left, narrowly missing a limb that would have come through the windshield. I floored the gas pedal...and just as the weight of the tree came crashing down it brushed the top of the roof as we spun out beneath it and fell behind us. I guess out of relief and disbelief I was laughing ....Damnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn! I turned the car around and went back to see if the people in the car behind me were ok.

They had survived too...They were still frozen in the moment...there eyes fixated on the tree in front of their car. We just sat there in our vehicles taking it all in....the woman on the passenger side finally made a slow movement, held up a camera, and snapped a picture.

On my dashboard lay a bright green Gumball, some twigs, a few pine needles and a partial leaf ...evidence of the encounter.

One could sit all day and ponder the what-ifs. But, what if I had waited for the other car to pass...they would have kept going and not have slowed down for that millisecond and converged with the tree... and I would have slammed into the back of them.

What if: my sister had never teased me about being cautious?

What if: my son had not looked up and saw the tree?

what if....

Nothing is what’s inside a blue collar’s wallet the day before payday.

Nothing is the echo you hear when you hit the side of an empty oil drum with an old broom handle.

Nothing is what you smell when you open the door of a clean refrigerator with only a box of baking soda chilling in the corner.

Nothing is what you feel when you are married to someone who never looks into your eyes or listens when you speak.

Nothing is what we are before we are born and what we are after we die.

Nothing is really something.