What Day Changed Your Life?
On September 11, 2001, it is estimated that 3,000 people drew their last breath on earth because of senseless acts of terrorism. Something I read that has stayed with me was that there were approximately 100 children born after their fathers died on that day. Some in the towers, some on flights and those that were first responders who saved lives as they sacrificed their own. Those children have grown up these last 20 years in the shadow of that loss, their lives forever changed.
When I think about September 11th now, after two decades, what I keep coming back to is that this is only one day in time. A heartbreaking day to be certain but we have now lived over 7000 days since that September morning in 2001. I am certain that each of us have had other days that have brought us even more significant change - some perhaps even more personal to us.
In fact, some of those days have been recent for many of us.
What other days in these last years have changed your life? In what way? How are you using that change to grow? To bring value to the world. As I pondered those questions for myself it gave me pause to consider how I might serve more.
One story comes to mind that moves me and compels me to do more. I’m always looking for examples to share about those that have shown creative resilience and this story and the young woman whose story it is to tell were and are remarkable.
Our champion possibilitarian in this story is Chelsie Hill. She grew up believing that she would one day be a professional dancer. For a time, it seemed that the opportunity for that had been cruelly taken from her when she was a victim of a drunk driver car accident.
Chelsie was left paralyzed from the waist down. Something that would be devastating to any of us was particularly so to this promising and committed young dancer. She was seventeen and three months away from her high school graduation.
There were tough days – harder than I can even imagine but two years after she was released from the hospital she decided to dance. In her wheelchair. She had met others in her same life situation, and she convinced them to share her dream and they formed their very own wheelchair dance team.
The Rollettes were born.
This is no ordinary dance troupe. Because it’s about more than entertainment. It’s about empowerment and boundless living. Check out this video where Chelsie talks about her first summer camp program. It’s already well behind her but the video gives you some insight into what motivates her and the lives she is changing.
Did the day of her accident change her life? Indeed. But she would argue that the day she opened her first summer camp changed it as well. Just like everything we experience, there are two sides to change. What instigates the change and then what we create from it.
This year let’s go beyond just thinking about what happened on September 11, 2001. Let’s examine our own lives and hold ourselves to a higher standard to create good from whatever has happened in our lives over the gift of these last twenty years and tell those stories.
Yes, we can.
