My blogs were intended to be entirely about my experience with owning and operating a business. I want to educate my readers on the lessons that I have learned, so if you start your own business, many of the troubles that I encountered, would be avoided.
However, today is 9/11. It's a day that evokes deep and troubling feelings within. I was in New York City that day. I lost a family member when the first plane hit the building. I also lost a classmate. I heard stories from friends, who inexplicably didn't make it to work that day or was running late. All I thought of when I heard those stories were, "it simply wasn't your time."
I remember on that day, after my brother dropped me off at my office, which was in mid-town Manhattan, he called me before he went to work and told me that the radio station reported a plane flying into the World Trade Center. Not know the full scale of the events that would unfold that day, I thought it must have been a small plane and the pilot may have passed out behind the wheel. After all it was a clear and beautiful day in NYC.
By the time my brother got to his office, the second plane hit. That's when I knew something was wrong. From where I was, I could only see smoke. I tried to get online to see what the news organizations were carrying, but the sites were overloaded. A group of us got into the conference room and watched in horror as the events unfold on the television in front of us. Another friend of mine had called me to say he was going up to the top of the building to see what was taking place, I declined, partly due to fear, partly because I needed a buffer, which the television supplied.
No work was done in NYC that day, except for the brave first responders that attempted to get people out of the building. I remember the story my aunt told me, regarding her first hand account of the day. She was at work in the towers that day. After the first plane hit, the fire alarm sounded, and the voice on the intercom requested people evacuate the building. The managers came out and said it was a false alarm, please return to your desk. My aunt decided she was going to leave the building for a while regardless of what the managers were saying. She walked only a few blocks before the second plane hit the building she was in. None of her co-workers who remained behind are alive today.
Once the bridges re-opened to outbound traffic, my brother drove back to my building and picked me up along with my friend, who watched the towers fall from the top of our building. It was a long journey out, but I felt a sense of relief after making it home. My wife and children were waiting. Interestingly enough, if my wife had worked that day, I would have been downtown Manhattan, when the first plane struck. It flew directly over her building. My story would have been very different.
I remember feeling a sense of helplessness, anger and uncertainty. I looked at my children and knew that the world they would grow up in was not as safe as how my childhood was. I wanted to protect them from all dangers. I knew I couldn't, of course, but I intend to give it my best. I made very bad decisions in an attempt to protect my children, such as moving out of New York as quickly as I could. This created dire financial consequences for my family. I hired a bad nanny to watch my children while my wife and I was away at work. This also turned out to be a very bad decision.
I've learned to be more practical with my decisions. I've learned that running away is not the answer. You must face your fears to move on with your life. After 9/11/2001, it took me 3 years before I would go to downtown Manhattan and 5 years before I went near to ground zero, as it is called. While I no longer live in NY, it's because my life with my family has been much better in Jacksonville, FL.
I didn't want to complete my thoughts without touching on the two most controversial topics today surrounding 9/11. First, building a mosque close to where the towers fell is a non issue. Every religion has extremist. That doesn't make the religion a bad one. Building it there seems a way of offering an olive branch, an outreach to the community. Would anyone accuse Protestants of being racist because a few members were involved with the KKK?
The second issue is the burning of the Quran. This is preaching hate from the pulpit. It is very hurtful, when a so-called man of God preaches hate. The Bible teaches love and tolerance and that God will judge the living and the dead. From a practical standpoint, would it make sense to increase the enemies of the USA? The extremist of Islam are few, if you burn the Quran, you would anger all of Islam, which is over a billion people. Please do the math.
I dedicate this blog to my cousin Glenroy. May you Rest In Peace. The worst part of losing him was the lack of closure. His body was never recovered, as were most people on the floors that had a direct impact.
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