I don't know why, but when good things happen in our lives we tend to accept them as normal. When bad things happen, we consider ourselves victims of bad luck, God's wrath, Satan's attacks, or just a lousy life.

One place you can see that played out many times in a day is on a golf course. Let a golfer get a bad bounce and he'll wax eloquent about it for hours in the 19th hole. But let him get a good bounce and the only one who will report it is the "victim" who lost the bets.

Nationally we are the same. A lot of bad came out of the attacks on the World Trade Centers, Pentagon and the intended attack on the White House using a plane that is known to us all as United Flight 193. Nearly 3,000 people died almost immediately. Families lost husbands, fathers, wives, mothers, daughters, sons, cousins, aunts, uncles. Companies lost important and loved workers. Some companies themselves were virtually destroyed. Rather than go on, let me just acknowledge that the losses were wide spread and devastating, and many still suffer because of what happened that day.

But not every part of the aftermath of 9/11 was painful or negative. Only recently a movie was released which chonicled the heroic activities of some of the first rescue workers who arrived after the buildings were hit and before they collapsed.

Within a month after the attacks my wife and I were walking in downtown Palo Alto and came across a beautiful art exhibit that was made up entirely of art expressing some feeling about 9/11. And I personally know at least six people who wrote songs of encouragement, prayer, and hope within a very short time after 9/11. Other songs which had already been written took on new meaning and helped people deal and heal.

A song my partner and I wrote called Even That that had been recorded by a delightful and excellent singer named Laurie Kinsella fell into that category. She was asked to sing at a couple of different events which were created specifically around 9/11, and she sang that song. (We heard later that, because of Laurie's performance, that song actually made it to the White House.)

My point here is that good things can sometimes, and in fact often do, come out of very bad events. The Bible tells of Joseph saying to his brothers--the ones who sold him into slavery and told their father he was dead--that they meant it for bad, but God meant it for good.

So when you think of the attacks that were carried out on 9/11, acknowledge the losses, but be thankful for the good that was, and is, an important part of the aftermath. And keep writing and keep singing the songs that help us all with such times. That's good music.