ATOP of Meaningfulworld 9/11 Reflections call 218-339-2699 at 9:15 AM on Sept 11For a Silent Meditation, Reflections, and Free Counselling Dr Ani Kalayjian and Rebecca Schaffner When the towers of the World Trade Centre in New York were unexpectedly attacked and when the Pentagon in Washington D.C. was threatened to be suddenly hit by hijacked airplanes on September 11, 2001, coming from both the Newark International Airport and Boston Airport, the world was in shock. Mothers lost their sons, daughters, and husbands, husbands lost their wives, businesses lost their employees and the United States as well as its’ economic partners experienced a chaos; a traumatic experience that even after 10 years affects the mental health of people around the world. The Association for Trauma Outreach and Prevention (ATOP) of Meaningfulworld is inviting people to a silent meditation on Sunday Sept 11, at 8:45-9:15 followed by a discussion, reflections and lessons learned. A teleconference phone line and free counselling session will be directed by Dr. Kalayjian, the founder and president of ATOP, kindly dial the phone number 218-339-2699 and enter the access code 813707. Dr Kalayjian has conducted numerous training programs and healing circles, immediately after the 9/11 attacks, which took place at Fordham University and ATOP has also worked at ground zero with police officers, and business employees impacted directly by the atrocities. Although many negative feelings were experienced, such as anger, fear, frustration, revenge, immediately after the attacks, after processing one’s feelings, more compassionate and empathic feelings emerged, such as love and forgiveness. According to Dr Kalayjian, “Forgiveness is shifting from the automatic ego reaction (anger/self-protection, hurting back the other), to a non-reactive conscious response of empathy and compassion; considering that the other person is ALSO a human being.” (Dr Kalayjian, 2010 Forgiveness & Reconciliation, Springer Publishing). ATOP Meaningfulworld has compiled reflections of officers and interns who were happy to share their personal experiences of this human-made disaster. Through reading their very compelling accounts, you may find that social support and positive coping strategies such as stress relieving activities, group and individual therapy or a hobby such as art and a physical release through dance can be a very effective method to managing traumatic events. Dr Kalayjian shares “I was Chairing the United Nations DPI/NGO Annual Conference, while on the podium actually chairing a meeting, received a message that one of the towers were hit by an airplane, but that we should continue with our agenda. About 10 minutes into our meeting, we received another message to evacuate the auditorium in 5 min, since the attackers will target the UN they assumed. Although I have travelled to numerous countries in active war and other violent conflicts, this was the most difficult position I was in, since I was responsible to evacuate over 3,500 international delegates from over 60 countries. I announced that all airports are closed, all the bridges and tunnels were also closed; that they have to evacuate immediately out of the UN. Delegates were crying, anxious and in fear, as they didn’t have resources, didn’t know where to go? They were perplexed saying “We left our war torn countries thinking that NY is safe?” I spent the entire morning helping groups and individuals head to their destinations. I housed many guests from California who had nowhere to go, their hotels could not extend their reservations due to lack of space. I worked 24/7 reaching out to my colleagues, family and friends to make sure all were fine. We went to ground zero to work with fire fighters, police officers, and other volunteers. Organized and held a memorial at Fordham University, and resumed the conference at the UN two days later, to have a platform for people to express their feelings, achieve closure, and remember those who perished. The entire scene was surreal, people were covered by heavy white dust and debris and they looked like they were in a war. I could not believe my eyes that our security would let such a disaster take place. Everything is meaningful, and nothing is an accident, therefore, I began reflecting on the meaning of these attacks. We then followed up by a research study and looked at the meaning-making post attacks. People had many positive lessons, such as celebrating differences instead of fearing, expressing one’s love and positive emotions daily to all those we love, learning about other cultures, taking good care of ourselves, etc. Ten years later, I feel we collectively suffer from amnesia, we have forgotten many of the lessons we said we learned, and that we need to be mindful and in the moment so that we remember always the positive lessons learned, and grow and integrate our new meaning. We at ATOP have been vigilant assisting many countries in conflict such as Sierra Leone, DR Congo, Lebanon, Syria, Pakistan, and Armenia. We work locally in our monthly Humanitarian Psychosocial Rehabilitation certificate programs, as well as globally through our Humanitarian Mental Health Missions. Katherine Kaze, ATOP’s United Nations Intern shares her story with us: “I was in school at the time. (5th grade). Everything was progressing normally, as the teachers did not know yet. Without explanation, I was taken out of class and driven home by my neighbour. At first I was very confused, because she wouldn’t tell me anything either. I arrived home to find my mother sitting in front of the burning image of the towers on the television, quietly crying. My father worked at the trade towers, and she had not heard from him since that morning. Even worse, he worked on a floor close to where the plane had hit. From my perspective, it was all very surreal. I didn’t want to believe I would never have a father again, just like that. I left her there, and went to another room of the apartment. I was quiet. I tried imagining continuing to grow up without my dad. I cried a little bit, but it didn’t feel right. To my relief,
