Alan Weiss’s Monday Morning Memo® – 9/12/16

I thought it appropriate today to reprint a September 2001 special edition of Balancing Act, my monthly newsletter:

How do we retain balance in the wake of such horrific acts? The answer is, we don’t. At least not in the short term. We have to take time to realize that the world is inevitably altered. Our sense of security, complacency, and invulnerability has been shaken, and will never quite return to the original position.

There are no wise words or philosophic principles that can wash away the sickness we all feel. We have all been brutalized.

It occurs to me that one of the emotions that emerges in the aftermath of the shock is great clarity, an utter crispness about what is important. New Yorkers have conducted themselves with a unity and control which is not only beyond what could have been imagined, but is also an example of bravery so immense that one has to think of wartime London for a comparison. The country at large has responded with a singularity of purpose. People who can hardly wait for a traffic light to change have calmly waited in three-hour lines to donate blood.

On a larger scale, I’m receiving emails from all over the world, and we see public displays from Ireland to Australia expressing outrage, support, and sympathy. Cataclysm erases the superficial, and drives our attention to what is ultimately important.

I was in Los Angeles. When it became evident that it might be impossible to return for a week, I knew that my place was to be beside my wife in Rhode Island. Both of our kids work in New York. Mercifully, they were spared, but the horror had come too close.

A client from the east coast and I agreed that we had to control our fate. In just two days, we drove from Los Angeles to Charleston, West Virginia. On the third day, yesterday, I drove 12 hours, non-stop, to get home. It never occurred to me that it wasn’t possible to drive 3,000 miles in three days.

It’s very clear to me: My family is my root, my base, and my strength. The only consideration was to be together.

Our lives have all been changed. Many have lost loved ones and that loss can never be eased. All of us have lost our balance. But these times have brought out the very best in many, and serve to provide the clarity that may have been missing from our lives.

What is the most important thing in your life? It surely isn’t money, or a job, or a house. That real core is what must be valued and treasured. Perhaps many of us are now being refocused on our basic essence.

My deep sympathies to any of you who lost loved ones in this tragedy. My best to all of you to overcome the challenges of these times.

© Alan Weiss 2001 All rights reserved.