As we approach the one year mark of September 11, and the memories of the victims of that day will be tarnished by political gains and network ratings, we need to take the time to reflect in ourselves.

Times have changed and so have we.

To all of you that say our innocence ended that day, I have one word for you .. Cocoons.

Considering how our nation was built, innocence is not a word to use lightly.

  • Freedom from sin, moral wrong, or guilt through lack of knowledge of evil.
  • Guiltlessness of a specific legal crime or offense.
  • Freedom from guile, cunning, or deceit; simplicity or artlessness.
  • Lack of worldliness or sophistication; naiveté.
  • Lack of knowledge or understanding; ignorance.
  • Freedom from harmfulness; inoffensiveness

By the time our nation had its 200th birthday, none of the above applied to us.

There may be innocent people but certainly not a nation of innocence.

I used to see myself as an innocent person. Through my innocence I was able to exist in a cocoon and that was how I liked it. Safe, comfortable, naive. When the Oklahoma City bombing occurred, I simply wrapped my cocoon tighter. When the Columbine school shooting happened, I wrapped my children tighter in my cocoon. In my safe enclosure, events like Ruby Ridge and Waco did not affect me.

For several weeks after September 11th, my cocoon was wrapped so tight I could hardly breathe.

Then I slowly began to emerge from my cocoon.

One of the first things I began to realize was it was not innocence that I had, it was blindness.

No matter how hard I pretended not to see what hurt or scared me, I still had the knowledge inside me. I realized the only true innocence was in the eyes of children.

It is an amazing thing to emerge from a tightly wrapped cocoon. 

I learned to ask the most important question any person could ask.

I began to ask "why"?

We don't ask "why" in our cocoons. It is just not important. Acceptance is the only thing you allow in. To ask "why" is to invite reality into the safe darkness. And reality can be a lousy guest.

To all of you that believed our innocence ended on September 11th, I ask you to leave your cocoons.

Start looking around at reality. Start asking "why". Acceptance is simply not good enough.

Think back to when you were a child. You must have asked 'why" a million times. That was the only way you gained knowledge to things you did not understand. And if you were anything like I was as a child, you did not stop until somebody answered your questions truthfully. I refused to accept that the sky is blue because God painted it blue or that ever dreaded answer of "just because it is". 

I continued to ask until finally somebody explained to me that the sky really was not blue. It was really blue light from the sun that we were looking at. I was happy. I had my answer.

I feel like a child again. I am asking "why" so often that I am surprised a lollipop is not shoved in my mouth to make me stop. 

Everyone needs to ask "why", especially since September 11th. And do not accept the first answer that comes your way. To accept that we were attacked because of our freedoms and prosperity is to accept that the sky is blue because God painted it that way. Totally unacceptable answer. Unless your in your cocoon. 

Our government would love to keep us all in our cocoons. 

After all, caterpillars are more easily controlled than butterflies.

Butterflies are Free.

I ask everyone to honor the memories of the true victims of September 11th by leaving your cocoons.

Only then will it be possible to understand why they lost theirs lives.

Only then can another September 11th be avoided.



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