By Zaven Khanjian, AMAA Executive Director/CEO
Ten days after September 11, 2001, at a special State of the Union Address, President George W. Bush told the nation “It is my hope that in the months and years ahead, life will return almost to normal.”
It never did!
Not even ‘almost’ to normal.
The terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 set in motion a series of new policies, legislation and attitude that dramatically changed American life, is here to stay and has made us forget what life was like before.
Airline travel, airport security, Orwellian surveillance, intelligence, banking, border crossing, immigration and deportation, the longest war in American history, big government, exploding national debt, and US sanctions are spheres of life radically impacted.
Since December 2019, the heartbreaking fallout of the global pandemic called COVID-19 is consuming the human mind and soul and has been emotionally and physically draining for the global communities.
A safety and health assault by an unknown enemy has forged an unparalleled, unprecedented and unimaginable reality dictating new norms of life.
The human loss and suffering, including that in the United States, is grave under any measured scale, as we continue to face an uncertain, unknown and blurry future.
While our ‘ground hog days’ may be boring and our urge to be liberated from the lockdown pushes us to the brink of impatience, they help us to think of all those communities around the world where there is no governmental support, stimulus package, personal protective equipment, adequate medical and health personnel and facilities or professional first respondents. Communities where war is still lingering, inflation is sky rocketing, unemployment records are broken, layoffs are abundant,
usinesses are bankrupt and, following a liquidity crunch, bank account holders are unable to withdraw or utilize hard earned personal nest eggs.
Poverty is devastating. Children and minors are the primary victims. Their health, nutrition and education are at stake. Their destiny is our yoke. The fate of our future ministers, educators, doctors, scientists, musicians, engineers and artisans is in our hands. We cannot afford to shatter their dreams.
What the future will change in life on this planet as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic is anybody’s guess.
I don’t have a prediction like President Bush.
But I know that now is the time to change the future of those God has yoked us to dignify and uphold.
AMAA’s COVID-19 Response Fund is knocking on the doors. We are all invited to show the “perfect love that will cast out all fear.”
We thank you for your support and may God bless you and your families during this most unpredictable time.
