The root of the word “courage” is “coeur”, which translated means “heart.” To act with courage basically means to respond with heart. Today, we celebrate the courage of thousands of men and women: firefighters, police, and many others who responded with heart to save the lives of those trapped in the collapsing World Trade Center buildings. What is this deep instinct in us that fires our hearts to save the lives of others in danger? Is it some deep conviction that life is a precious gift? Is it an acknowledgement rooted in compassion—the realization that we are all one in the One, who we call God, Allah, Yahweh, or the Principle of Being? How is it then that throughout our world we still kill one another in the name of that same God? What has so “hardened our hearts,” the same hearts that are the birthing place of courage and compassion? Today, we celebrate courage, especially the courage of those who gave their lives that others might live. What commitment can I personally make today to nourish and sustain life around me and to refuse to be caught in the vortex of violence in my own life? Perhaps, that is the greatest tribute I can pay to those who gave their lives for others eleven years ago.
