So on Sunday it’s 10 years since the terrorist attack on the twin towers.
Ten years.
In some respects, it feels much longer … and yet every time I am in NYC and I pass the ground zero site, I am always amazed that those 2 massively imposing buildings aren’t there, as if I saw them only a few months ago.
While I was living in Australia at the time, I feel deeply connected to that event.
Not just because I – like everyone else around the world – watched history unfold in front of my eyes, but because I knew a number of people who were working in those buildings.
One of those was Andy.
For a few months, he’d been working on – I think – the 84th floor of – I think – the North Tower.
He was helping out a company with some work they needed help doing, however his then wife’s grandmother became seriously ill, so they flew to Toronto to see her.
That was September 9th.
By September 10th, things weren’t improving so instead of flying back that afternoon to be at work the next morning, they decided to stay a few more days.
That decision saved his life.
I cannot explain the feeling of relief I had when I finally got through to him and knew he was OK, which is why regardless of how much of a cow his wife #2 turned out to be, I am eternally grateful to her and her grandmother.
Unfortunately, I also experienced the other side of the situation.
The sister of one of my friends had entered the Twin Towers early that morning.
It was her 2nd day working at a financial company, and only her 2nd week in NYC.
She loved the job, the country and where she was located.
When the first plane hit, she was in the other tower.
We now know that she wrote an email to her parents – who were holidaying in Spain at the time – saying that when they see the news in the morning, they should not worry because she was located in the other tower and all was OK.
Tragically, that email was sent literally minutes before the 2nd plane hit the other tower – around the floor that she was working on.
While I can never feel the same sense of loss as the people who lost loved ones and in no way am I trying to say my experience with 9/11 is worse than anyone else – I know it’s absolutely nothing of the sort – I remember a feeling of total despair.
Despair for what was happening and what was probably going to happen.
Nothing good came from this event.
Nothing.
So as we approach the 10th anniversary of this tragic day, I hope we remember more than just the poor people who died – or those affected because they died – but the importance of understanding, tolerance, communication and love because while those factors had little to do with how/why the events on Sept 11th 2001 happened, they may ensure something of incredible importance comes out of it for the rest of us.