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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Forest Hills, NY

    My annual September 11th post

    On the 14th anniversary...

    My annual September 11th Post... apologies for the repeat, but this date cannot be forgotten...it is as indelibly etched on the U.S. psyche as December 7th...and it is just as meaningful to me as in the past...
    -----
    We were in the WTC until the first attack in February 1993. (My office was on the 100th floor, facing the Lady of the Harbor. I remember the walk down in the dark and smoke). We then moved temporarily to our midtown offices on B’way and 50th Street. Thank goodness, my managing partner decided NOT to move back to the WTC – a gutsy decision based on client and political pressures, but a wise one in retrospect and one that considered the employees of the firm. We moved across West Street to the World Financial Center (now "Brookfield Plaza").

    On September 11th, I was in London for a series of meetings. Someone came back down to the conference room and said that a plane went into the Trade Center...and had to make the point that she was not kidding, based on our reactions. We spent the next day trying to reach our families, crying and watching CNN. My wife was on the BQE (for those o/s of NY, that’s the Brooklyn Queens Expressway) heading to work and saw the planes hit. My son was in his senior year at Duke.

    I headed off to Zurich for another meeting, since I couldn’t get back home anyhow. I ended up being able to get back to the States on Saturday, but with the “lottery” of air availability, flew into Pittsburgh. Luckily my travel service was able to get me a rental car at Pittsburgh, and I started the long ride back to Queens. Stopped in PA for the night, eyes almost closed from fatigue and emotion. On Sunday morning, I crossed the Verrazano Narrows Bridge from Staten Island to Brooklyn and saw the smoke rising from what was the WTC complex. Tears again…pulled off the road until I composed myself.

    This is NOT about me, but my life has not been the same since – professionally or personally. My wife (an atty by profession) is a volunteer with the cops of the NYPD, and has embedded herself even more into that group of heroes to help any way she can. I went on an intellectual journey, and went back to school at NYU at the age of 53 for a masters in int’l relations. (We suddenly learned that something was out there...and I had so much to learn on the subject.) My son decided that he was “coming home”…he graduated Duke in 2002 and went to law school in NYC. The magnet was there. What got to him was some non-NYer’s moronic comment in a class shortly after the attacks – something to the effect of “why is everyone so upset? They were only buildings!”

    My office looked RIGHT out on the site, so I saw the clean-up and the rise of the new structures and development of the memorial on an almost daily basis. It hit me each and every day what was there, but thankfully, also what has now risen from those (literal) ashes. (We have since moved to 30 Rock.) I will again watch the ceremonies, with tears in my eyes.

    God bless the victims, the first responders, and those who we have lost since that day. God bless those who protect us here and abroad...and never forget that we are must remain vigilant - that this remains an evil world with those dedicated to the destruction of the U.S. and our allies.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  2. #2
    Thank you for your annual post. We must never forget and need to find ways to bring whatever peace and harmony we can to those around us. Hopefully, kindnesses and good to those we each encounter on our journey through life will create a ripple effect and help spread peace around the world.

    From someone in the midwest - they weren't just buildings. It was the people inside and around the buildings and those streaming in to help. I still remember making a quick trip home from the office to bring back a tv so we could watch what was happening - the internet was not able to keep up with demand and news online was slow to refresh. The feeling as I watched the first tower come down stays with me. The dedication and sacrifice of the first responders still humbles me. What amazing individuals.

    God bless the friends and families of those lost that day and in the days since.



    “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”
    ― Fred Rogers

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Charlotte, North Carolina
    Thank you for the post! The thread of terrorism remains very real, and this day should serve both as a somber reminder of the deaths of thousands of innocent people, as well as an annual warning that there are people in this world who want to hurt America, and Americans, and will gladly do so given the opportunity.

    Or we can go to UNC and take their 9/11-from-the-view-of-the-jihadist course...

  4. #4
    Great post, thank you!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    New Jersey
    My haunting memory of being in NYC on that fateful day. I'm thankful that, notwithstanding the cover of this brochure for a conference I was planning to attend, the conference was in midtown and not downtown.

    911 Photo.jpg
    Rich
    "Failure is Not a Destination"
    Coach K on the Dan Patrick Show, December 22, 2016

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Forest Hills, NY
    As evening approaches on this mournful day, I wanted to post this ad - one that was shown only once...and brings tears to my eyes every time I see it.

    https://youtu.be/J3eQmzw6n3k

    Thank you Budweiser.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Quote Originally Posted by duke74 View Post
    As evening approaches on this mournful day, I wanted to post this ad - one that was shown only once...and brings tears to my eyes every time I see it.

    https://youtu.be/J3eQmzw6n3k

    Thank you Budweiser.
    Thanks for that and your story as well.

    I also like viewing this on the anniversary:


  8. #8
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Fayetteville, NC
    Was it really 14 years ago? It seems like only yesterday.

    I guess this will be our generations version of Pearl Harbor.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh
    14 years later and watching this still gives me chills and brings tears to my eyes:

    http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-li...iuliani/n11612
    [redacted] them and the horses they rode in on.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
    Quote Originally Posted by duke74 View Post
    On the 14th anniversary...

    My annual September 11th Post... apologies for the repeat, but this date cannot be forgotten...it is as indelibly etched on the U.S. psyche as December 7th...and it is just as meaningful to me as in the past...
    FWIW, this Gen Xer had to look up what happened on December 7th. My first guess was D Day. Turns out it's Pearl Harbor. Perhaps that date has lost some of its etching? I'd be surprised if a random selection of Millenials could name the date if asked.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    New Orleans, Louisiana
    Quote Originally Posted by Edouble View Post
    FWIW, this Gen Xer had to look up what happened on December 7th. My first guess was D Day. Turns out it's Pearl Harbor. Perhaps that date has lost some of its etching? I'd be surprised if a random selection of Millenials could name the date if asked.
    Aside from not being alive for that event, I don't think it's a generational thing. People (of all ages) who learned these historical dates in school need the year to identify the event. I wasn't taught December 7. I was taught December 7, 1941. And June 6, 1944. And November 22, 1963. I would think Millennials who had to learn these dates would probably retain them.

    When I read the original post in this thread, I had a similar lapse in memory. December 7? The context made Pearl Harbor spring to mind, but I wanted a year to feel sure, and 1944 sounded wrong.

    This will sound cold, but September 11 doesn't need the year -- or even the word September, if you say 9/11 -- because it had better marketing and iconography. (911 is the emergency phone number. Make the 11 tall enough and it looks like a pair of twin towers.) So the effect is opposite: I don't want the year. In the past, for random reasons, I've run across the date September 11, 2011 and felt a twinge of sadness, then confusion. That's... not quite right. Oh, 2001. And even when I see the correct year, I do some quick personal math (Bush 43 was President as of the 2000 election, I was X years old) to make sure.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Forest Hills, NY
    Quote Originally Posted by Edouble View Post
    FWIW, this Gen Xer had to look up what happened on December 7th. My first guess was D Day. Turns out it's Pearl Harbor. Perhaps that date has lost some of its etching? I'd be surprised if a random selection of Millenials could name the date if asked.
    Point taken (and Brevity's). I guess I made an incorrect assumption. To me (I'm 62), "December 7th" and "June 6th" sort of stand on their own...no need for years. Nov 22nd by itself doesn't have the same impact to me...so the year does help in context. [I happened to have been on an elementary school field trip to the Museum of Natural History when we found out.]

    FWIW, the two former dates also have a personal connection with me. My son was Bar Mitzvah'ed on September 11, 1993, and I started with my Firm (the "Haskins & Sells") on June 6, 1977.

    However we remember these important dates is almost irrelevant...it's that they are remembered not only for the event(s) but for their meaning.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Manhattan
    I just graduated from Duke and now live about three blocks away from the World Trade Center. One of my roommates — a native Long Islander — and I went down to the memorial yesterday evening. It's tough to describe, but walking up to those reflecting pools and seeing them bathed in light really gives one perspective on the scope of the tragedy, especially for someone like me who was in third grade when it happened.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
    Quote Originally Posted by brevity View Post
    Aside from not being alive for that event, I don't think it's a generational thing. People (of all ages) who learned these historical dates in school need the year to identify the event. I wasn't taught December 7. I was taught December 7, 1941. And June 6, 1944. And November 22, 1963. I would think Millennials who had to learn these dates would probably retain them.

    When I read the original post in this thread, I had a similar lapse in memory. December 7? The context made Pearl Harbor spring to mind, but I wanted a year to feel sure, and 1944 sounded wrong.

    This will sound cold, but September 11 doesn't need the year -- or even the word September, if you say 9/11 -- because it had better marketing and iconography. (911 is the emergency phone number. Make the 11 tall enough and it looks like a pair of twin towers.) So the effect is opposite: I don't want the year. In the past, for random reasons, I've run across the date September 11, 2011 and felt a twinge of sadness, then confusion. That's... not quite right. Oh, 2001. And even when I see the correct year, I do some quick personal math (Bush 43 was President as of the 2000 election, I was X years old) to make sure.
    The problem is that I don't remember all of the dates that I learned in high school. It was so many years ago. I certainly remember many of the world leaders and their reactions to the conflicts in Europe, the spread of Hitler's regime, Japan's attack, but I don't recall the dates. I also think there might be a paradigm shift in history education, whereas hard memorization of specific names and dates is being thrown to the wayside in favor of more big picture concepts: think less fill in the blank test questions and more essay questions. This is just my experience from doing a little tutoring about five years ago when I was in between careers.

    I also agree with everything you wrote about 9/11. Unlike Pearl Harbor, the date itself is the name of the event. At most, I have heard the event extrapolated to "The September 11th Terrorist Attacks on the World Trade Center". At the minimum, and most frequently, it's just "9/11". The date, for the reasons you list, sadly, is the perfect descriptor for what happened. In addition, the World Trade center was bombed about 10 years before 9/11, so just calling the events of September 11, 2001 the "Attacks on the World Trade Center" isn't really specific enough.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Forest Hills, NY
    Quote Originally Posted by Edouble View Post
    In addition, the World Trade center was bombed about 10 years before 9/11, so just calling the events of September 11, 2001 the "Attacks on the World Trade Center" isn't really specific enough.
    Just to be precise (I am a CPA after all), the first bombing (from a van in the WTC garage) was on February 26, 1993. My offices, as noted in my original post, were on the 100th floor of One World Trade Center (later known as the "North Tower" - but never referred to like that at the time). I remember feeling the vibrations. Thought a generator or something had exploded. Had to walk down in partial darkness from the 100th floor, covered with soot, hand in hand with colleagues.

    As I noted, we did not move back to the offices, although we decided to stay downtown - the only Big 6 accounting firm (at the time, there were 6 after our and EY's mergers) to be downtown.

    Cantor Fitzgerald moved into a part of our old facilities, which were on the 93rd, 94th, 97th, 98th, 99th, 100th and 101st floors. And we know the horrendous losses they incurred on Sept 11th (about 650 people).

    For those unfamiliar with the WTC, there were two "Sky Lobbies" - on 44 and 78. To get to my office on 100, I had to take one elevator to 78 and then switch to the bank going to 100. Think about that in relation to the short window of about 17 minutes from the plane hitting the "point of impact" (93-99th floors) until the start of the collapse in terms of the escape.

    Just some background...

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Charlotte, North Carolina
    Quote Originally Posted by duke74 View Post
    Just to be precise (I am a CPA after all), the first bombing (from a van in the WTC garage) was on February 26, 1993. My offices, as noted in my original post, were on the 100th floor of One World Trade Center (later known as the "North Tower" - but never referred to like that at the time). I remember feeling the vibrations. Thought a generator or something had exploded. Had to walk down in partial darkness from the 100th floor, covered with soot, hand in hand with colleagues.

    As I noted, we did not move back to the offices, although we decided to stay downtown - the only Big 6 accounting firm (at the time, there were 6 after our and EY's mergers) to be downtown.

    Cantor Fitzgerald moved into a part of our old facilities, which were on the 93rd, 94th, 97th, 98th, 99th, 100th and 101st floors. And we know the horrendous losses they incurred on Sept 11th (about 650 people).

    For those unfamiliar with the WTC, there were two "Sky Lobbies" - on 44 and 78. To get to my office on 100, I had to take one elevator to 78 and then switch to the bank going to 100. Think about that in relation to the short window of about 17 minutes from the plane hitting the "point of impact" (93-99th floors) until the start of the collapse in terms of the escape.

    Just some background...
    Thank you for the background. It's hard to imagine oneself in those towers. The terror and confusion and horror must have been unreal. Rarely do I get true chills, and I have them now.

    What an unbelievable tragedy.

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