Any Benefits of 9-11?

This morning as I was driving to the office there were a number of tributes to the memory of those who lost their lives on 9-11-01 - and who continue to fight against terrorism today. Frankly it was difficult to listen to a lot of the audio sound bites from New York City, the flight controllers who were attempting to contact the pilots of the ill-fated planes, and relatives remembering their loved ones. And I got to thinking...Have there been any benefits to the events of 9-11?

There has certainly been a lot of negative fallout from that day, especially the loss of life in Iraq (both our military and the Iraqi civilians) and in Afghanistan, to say nothing of the political division in the U.S. And yet I believe that there have been positives as well...

For one, we can say with certainty that the American economic system is the most robust, dynamic and healthy in the world. Our ability to say - individually and as a country - that there is nothing that will stop us from doing what we are fully capable of doing. How many business owners wondered if their company would survive in the immediate aftermath of that horrible day? How many of us were tempted to simply crawl into a hole (as Saddam did...) and hide from the world hoping this would all just go away?

And yet, not only did most businesses impacted by the attacks survive - they thrived. Instead of crawling into holes we reached out and helped the victims in New York, Washington and in our neighborhoods. We gave MORE to charities rather than keeping it for ourselves. We learned that we are a UNITED country with incredible talents and intestinal fortitude. We chose to continue to live and thrive and prove to our detractors that even though we were attacked successfully in the short term, through the long term we will win in the end.

Are you living that way today? Do you feel as though you are under attack? If so, remember the famous quote from Henry Ford:

"Whether you think you can or you think you can't...

Either way is right."