As usual, I went to yoga Sunday morning, the tenth anniversary of the 9\/11 attacks. Mostly I go for the effect on my muscles, not my spirit. But on this solemn day my yoga teacher lit a candle in remembrance, and invited us to practice Tonglen<\/em>, breathing in all that is troublesome in the world, acknowledging it, then transforming it into compassion and peace on the exhale. After a few minutes, the class continued with its typical focus on backs, necks, and hips, or, as one member put it, \u201cthe usual overall soreness.\u201d<\/p>\n At the end of the class, after the stretching and the\u00a0Namaste,\u00a0<\/i>another member shared what happened to her Turkish and Egyptian friends ten years ago. They owned a restaurant in Manhattan, which they managed to keep open after the towers fell despite the chaos and lack of customers. Late at night three white men came in. They trashed the place. One of the owner\u2019s friends managed to slip away and call the police. Soon the men who had destroyed the restaurant were apprehended and brought back to be identified before they could be charged.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, those are the men,\u201d the owners told the police, who were eager to throw the book at them.<\/p>\n But the owners refused to press charges.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a difficult day,\u201d they said. \u201cWe understand their grief and rage. Let them go.\u201d<\/p>\n Incredulous, the police did so reluctantly.<\/p>\n A few hours later, the three men came back with some of their friends, pressing upon the owners fistfuls of cash for the damage. The men helped clean up as best they could, and continued to come for the next several weeks until things were put right again.<\/p>\n Sometimes forgiveness is the most effective kind of justice. It is much more likely than hatred or revenge to spawn atonement. This is the lesson so often lost in our decade of fear and grief and war. But it is one worth remembering as we light a candle; breathe in trouble and sorrow; breathe out compassion and peace; and seek to ease the overall soreness of the world.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I wrote this two years ago, on the 10th anniversary of 9\/11, and offer it again today.\u00a0 As usual, I went to yoga Sunday morning, the tenth anniversary of the 9\/11 attacks. Mostly I go for the effect on my … Continue reading ![\"Candle](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/r9f.352.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Candle-in-the-Dark.jpg?resize=392%2C600\" "\\"By")
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