You Can Change The Way Today Is Remembered

 

September 11th, 2001. In a situation that caused so much tragedy and impacted so many people in so many ways, most folks might be saying, “How can you reframe this?” Today, April Shprintz shares her insights on how you can reframe the way you remember 9/11.

 

Reach out to April Shprintz:

Email: april@drivenoutcomes.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprilshprintz

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aprilshprintz

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You Can Change The Way Today Is Remembered

I’m so glad you’re here. This is the anniversary of a day that many folks perhaps only know based on history books. Other folks know because they will never forget where they were when it happened, and other people remember because they can’t forget what it was like that day. I’m talking about September 11th, 2001. When that day occurred, I was still in the Air Force. I was a broadcaster doing television and radio news stationed in Europe. I was six hours ahead of the United States. I was already off-duty when that first plane hit the Twin Towers.

My then-boyfriend called me and told me what happened. I spent a little time on the phone with him making sure he was okay because he was from New York. After that phone call, I went to the gym and I was running on a treadmill watching the television news. As that second plane hit the Twin Towers, I knew that something very big was happening. We began immediately doing 24-hour broadcasts preparing our base in any way we could to defend our nation from a threat that we had never felt like we had incurred before.

 

I talk about how we reframe things and look at them differently. In a situation like that, which was such a tragedy that impacted so many people in so many ways, most folks might be saying, “How can you reframe this? How can you even attempt to?” The way that I look at this and the way that I reframe it in my mind is by focusing on the things that happened in those months and even the years after that event and focusing on the way that we as Americans looked at and treated each other, and the way that we came together regardless of what our differences were, what side of the political line we were on, and how different we were.

What we focused on was that we were all Americans. There was a sense of true patriotism and caring for your fellow man and woman that I have not seen before or since. Every September 11th, this is what I think about. I think about the fact that when it comes to reframing the way that we feel about other people, situations, and things that happen, I would always rather reframe and give people the benefit of the doubt so that we are reframing in a way that brings us closer together instead of in a way that brings us further apart.

 

I’m sure you’ve noticed over the past few years that our nation has been more divided than I can ever remember in my 45 years. I want to share a reframe of the way that I look at things when we talk about dealing with people as a whole. That reframe is that I always want to give people the benefit of the doubt whenever possible. I’m not talking about violating boundaries or getting taken advantage of.

We were all Americans. There was a sense of true patriotism and caring for our fellow man and woman that I have not seen before or since September 11th. Share on X

I’m talking about leading with love because I would rather have been kind to, loved, and give someone the benefit of the doubt who turns out to be an absolute jerk and someone whom I wish I had never had an association with than to find out I spent a single day or a single hour hating someone who was a decent person because I was wrong, because I jumped to conclusions, or because I let things that had happened in my past and colored my viewpoints and change the way that I treat other people.

 

If you listen to the show very often, you know I don’t get on many soapboxes one way or the other, other than the power of your mindset, but the soapbox that I want to get on now is to take this day as a day to remember that we are more alike than we’re different. We can accomplish so much more by giving each other the benefit of the doubt, remembering that we are all part of one big world, and seeing how we can find a way to be kind to someone else in an unexpected way so that perhaps instead of today being the anniversary of something awful that happened, today can become for someone the anniversary of an amazing day, an amazing happening, or a life-changing friendship that was formed. My one request for or my one winning mindset tip is to let each and every one of you know that I am rooting for you. Here’s to your success.