For many of us, 9-11 is the JFK moment of our life. We all remember what we were doing when we saw planes flying into the towers or heard it had happened. Our world stopped and it’s never been the same because America was forever changed.
The Society has just celebrated our first Happiness Happens Month. For various reasons I was pondering ending or closing it on a high note. Then 9-11 happened and it just didn’t feel right.
Not too long after I sent a blog that reminded people that despite the sadness of the day, happiness still happened. Someone had a baby, someone celebrated a birthday or anniversary, someone said their first word, someone fell in-love, someone made a new best friend, and someone felt relief when they got a call that their loved one was safe. You get the idea, I reminded people that happiness didn’t stop even in the middle of the numbing sadness and uncertainty that surrounded us.
That blog was one of our most well-received. People needed to be reminded that it was normal to experience happiness even in the middle of chaos. It also made me realize that the Society had an important purpose beyond being a light-hearted reminder that happiness is important too.
On that day, the worst of mankind challenged the best of mankind. There are certainly no words that can take away the pain so many have been left to co-exist with as a result of that day. But that day also brought out the best of mankind that has to be remembered too. Heros revealed themselves. We were kinder and more united. And for a awhile, we even remembered what’s really important.
Therefore on this day of remembrance, “What positive lesson did you learn from 9-11?” And more important, “Are you still a living example of what you learned that day?”
Great joys make us love the world. Great sadnesses make us understand the world.
~ Kent Nerburn
Written by Pamela Gail
Pamela Gail Johnson founded the Society of Happy People in 1998.
The Society is grounded on Pamela’s four key Practical Happiness Principles:
Pamela identified 31 Types of Happiness that are on the SOHP App Happiness Counter to make it easier to recognize moments of happiness.
Pamela also plans and organizes the Society of Happy People's annual happiness celebrations:
She's also a speaker, trainer, and author.
A few of her personal smile starters include her monthly book club, yoga, traveling and meeting new happy people.
I was in a horrible living situation when 9/11 happened, trying to raise 2 children with a very difficult man. It was breakfast time when the news reached us, and now I see that for me, yes, it was terrible, but I actually experienced it as just another terrible thing at that moment, and I carried on without processing it for the world-changing event that it was. I remember making a phone call to the grocery store trying to straighten out some ridiculous problem with my rewards card, and the woman on the other end trying to carry on as well. I stopped after that, but have always felt uncomfortable knowing that I was initially so cold about what had happened. Thank you for the gift of this question, because the good is that I see that I was a survivor, that I never gave up, that I just lost track because I was immersed in a situation of great magnitude already. I salute the strength of those who survived that day. It takes great strength to be a survivor, and I am happy to say that I survived.
Beautiful