By Barbara Morris
There is no better time than right now to review the treasure of your heart on the anniversary of Sept. 11. Recollection of the past, spent with family and friends or successful adventures alone very easily bring smiles to your faces. In times of stress, we should visit those more frequently. We should also add new dimensions to them.
Do a good deed for someone, for a community group, or even for yourself. Do something that must be done that has been put on the back burner because it was thought to be too complicated, too expensive or too time-consuming. Seek and find something positive about someone who is difficult for you to tolerate.
All those suggestions are really tough training for calming frazzled nerves. Worrying about things that may happen someday is a waste of energy and time. If unfortunate things happen, they will have to bee dealt with or ignored. The outcome will depend on the circumstances an example of that as far as I am concerned. I found it hard to believe the events of that day.
Those of us who survived were told to try to carry on as we did on the past. Somehow we have gotten this far. We have been fortunate to have strong leadership. Local programs have been creative and important and have kept many in our communities active and alert. More people are invited to participate.
There is something for everyone. Regular meeting schedules will resume with the arrival of September. Those will include local block and civic associations, the 105th, 103rd and 113th Precinct Community Councils, the Local Development Corporation of Laurelton, Rosedale and Springfield Gardens, the Queens Coalition for Parks and the 29th Assembly District Task force.
In addition to all that, Councilman James Sanders, Jr. (D-Laurelton) chairman of the City Council’s Standing Committee on Economic Development, sponsored a very informative seminar in August, which was an accelerated training session for individuals who are interested in starting and obtaining funding for a non-profit organization.
It is my understanding that Councilmen Sanders, Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans) and state Assemblyman William Scarborough (D-St. Albans) all plan to have further training sessions for non-profit groups coming up in the near future. We should also follow with interest and concern the progress that is being made to overcome the presence of the West Nile Virus in our communities.
Councilman Sanders held two very important meetings which brought the problem so much in focus that appropriate action has now been taken to further prevent the spread of the disease. Our Rosedale neighborhood who been so seriously ill with that virus was visited by Councilman Sanders and two ladies with him, all of whom said prayers by his bedside. The prayers, the good care of the hospital staff in the I.C.U. and the very devoted, continuous therapy performed daily by his wonderful, friend and companion, seem to be helping somewhat.
Progress is not speedy, but all of us who are praying for him and his caregivers are grateful that he is beginning to try to respond. Faith and prayers can, indeed, work miracles. We say “thank you” to all the caring people.
At the end of Sept. 11, last year looking at the devastating pile of debris and being frustrated by an inability to get in there and help, I remember hearing an estimate of possibly six years to clear away all that remained after trying to rescue as many people alive as possible or recover as many remains. An unpredictably dry, warm winter, spring and summer and an amazingly undaunted dedicated rescue and work crew worked miracles as well.
They have certainly done their very best to make things as good as they can be at this point in time. They cannot make us forget, nor would they want to do that. Our lives and the lives of generations to come will be changed forever from what we might have anticipated before Sept. 11.
Live every day as best you can and remember that today is the first day of the rest and — the test — of your life. Be kind to each other and yourself.
