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

    My annual September 11th post - on its 18th 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 is December 7th...and it is just as meaningful to me as in the past.

    As time passes, it has become mere "history" to some, like WW II or any other historical event. Students graduating from high school as part of the class of 2019 were just newborns on September 11, 2001. (It is good to know that NYS now has a law establishing a “September 11th Remembrance Day.” The new law allows for a brief moment of silence in public schools across the state at the beginning of the school day every September 11th to encourage dialogue and education in the classroom, and to ensure future generations have an understanding of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks and their place in history. The law is effective immediately.)

    -----

    We were in the World Trade Center 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 into 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 Verazzano 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 realized that 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.

    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 later moved to 30 Rock and I have left the firm due to mandatory retirement requirements.) 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 must remain vigilant - that this remains an evil world with those dedicated to the destruction of the U.S. and our allies.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Washington, DC area
    Thanks again for this. A few years ago, the late, great Oly added:

    Quote Originally Posted by Olympic Fan View Post
    ...For my parent's generation, the pivotal event in their lives was the attack on Pearl Harbor.

    In my youth, it was the assassination of JFK.

    For younger adults, it was 9/11.

    The kids will have one, but they haven't seen anything like those events.
    HBO has a show premiering tonight to help explain it to our younger crowd. I'm going to record it for my teen kids.

    -jk

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Wilmington, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by -jk View Post
    Thanks again for this. A few years ago, the late, great Oly added:



    HBO has a show premiering tonight to help explain it to our younger crowd. I'm going to record it for my teen kids.

    -jk
    Thanks for the information. I didn't realize HBO was doing a special about it. I will probably watch with my kids as well.
    My wife is a 9th grade science/medical terminology teacher and volley ball coach, and my kids are 10, 13, and 15, and active in several sports. So, I'm around a lot of teens/pre-teens and it's true that they have a hard time grasping how serious it was and how many people were affected by the attacks specifically, and the wars and events that followed even up to this day. I'll hear a joke about 9/11 from time to time from their friends at school from time to time, as teenagers will do, but I usually try to subtly let them know how serious it was, without sounding too much like the curmudgeon-in-chief.

    The attacks in New York are what is usually focused on when footage on the topic emerges, but I always explain to my kids that these attacks were timed to happen all over the country at the same time, and for a moment, America was under siege, and nobody knew exactly how many attacks there would be when or where they would take place. I remember thinking, if they hit the WTC, twice, and the Pentagon, my God, what's stopping them from reaching all their targets today?

    We're all guilty of letting time take the sting off of tragedy, it's how we heal, but I force myself to watch footage of the events that unfolded that day every year around this time. Never forget.

  4. #4
    Thank you, duke74.
    I would like to remember, in particular, the six Duke alumni who died during the attacks: Michael Morgan Taylor '81, A. Todd Rancke '81, Christopher Todd Pitman '93, Peter Ortale '87, J. Robinson "Rob" Lenoir '84, and my friend and classmate, Frederick C. Rimmele III, M.D. '94 .

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Rent free in tarheels’ heads
    Quote Originally Posted by -jk View Post
    Thanks again for this. A few years ago, the late, great Oly added:



    HBO has a show premiering tonight to help explain it to our younger crowd. I'm going to record it for my teen kids.

    -jk
    I took my kids to NYC last year and we spent half a day at the 9/11 Memorial. It’s incredibly well done and gave us the chance to talk at length about what happened.
    “Coach said no 3s.” - Zion on The Block

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Outside Philly
    Quote Originally Posted by -jk View Post
    Thanks again for this. A few years ago, the late, great Oly added:



    HBO has a show premiering tonight to help explain it to our younger crowd. I'm going to record it for my teen kids.

    -jk
    Time has a way of marching on leaving scars and memories for those of us who lived through it and new assigned reading in the history books of the next generation. I teach a little bit on the side, including rising juniors/seniors. Never ceases to give me pause that they were born after 9/11 and have no personal connection to it --- it and arguably its aftermath with Afghanistan and Iraq were the defining national security events of a generation but as Oly said, not their generation.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    New Jersey
    Quote Originally Posted by -jk View Post
    HBO has a show premiering tonight to help explain it to our younger crowd. I'm going to record it for my teen kids.

    -jk
    This is the first year that the entire population of students in primary and secondary education in the US (i.e., excluding university level) were not alive when it happened.
    Rich
    "Failure is Not a Destination"
    Coach K on the Dan Patrick Show, December 22, 2016

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Forest Hills, NY
    Quote Originally Posted by scylla View Post
    Thank you, duke74.
    I would like to remember, in particular, the six Duke alumni who died during the attacks: Michael Morgan Taylor '81, A. Todd Rancke '81, Christopher Todd Pitman '93, Peter Ortale '87, J. Robinson "Rob" Lenoir '84, and my friend and classmate, Frederick C. Rimmele III, M.D. '94 .
    I now remember that you posted this last year. I meant to include it in my post, citing you. Apologies...may they rest in peace.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Forest Hills, NY
    Quote Originally Posted by Dr. Rosenrosen View Post
    I took my kids to NYC last year and we spent half a day at the 9/11 Memorial. It’s incredibly well done and gave us the chance to talk at length about what happened.
    I had a discussion about this with a colleague yesterday. I have never visited the memorial, although I did see its construction from my window at the World Financial Center. Similarly, I have never visited the Holocaust Museum. Too painful for me (and it makes me angry), although I recognize the need for these memorials-especially as the direct generations affected pass on and because new generations need to be aware of the events and their significance.

    I remember when Schindler's List came out. I had no desire to see it, but we took my then 13 year old young son just for that reason.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by duke74 View Post
    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 is December 7th...and it is just as meaningful to me as in the past.
    Always one of my all-time favorite threads. Thank you, very much, for always posting your great and very important thread!

  11. #11
    I visited the Flight 93 memorial last September. It was a very moving experience. The Tower of Voices was going to be dedicated the next weekend. They haven't gotten the chimes installed yet but I would like to return when the 40 chimes, representing the 40 passengers and crew, are installed. There was a wide variety of people visiting that day - all ages and nationalities. I would like to return once the chimes have been installed.

    I was watching GMA again this morning, as I was that morning. They usually break in at the time the planes hit but it is always a "breaking news" moment. My heart still stops when I hear that because I'm not thinking of the memorial services but am afraid of another tragedy like that. God bless the first responders and all the people we lost that day.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    North of Durham
    Quote Originally Posted by duke74 View Post
    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 is December 7th...and it is just as meaningful to me as in the past.

    As time passes, it has become mere "history" to some, like WW II or any other historical event. Students graduating from high school as part of the class of 2019 were just newborns on September 11, 2001. (It is good to know that NYS now has a law establishing a “September 11th Remembrance Day.” The new law allows for a brief moment of silence in public schools across the state at the beginning of the school day every September 11th to encourage dialogue and education in the classroom, and to ensure future generations have an understanding of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks and their place in history. The law is effective immediately.)

    -----

    We were in the World Trade Center 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 into 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 Verazzano 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 realized that 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.

    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 later moved to 30 Rock and I have left the firm due to mandatory retirement requirements.) 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 must remain vigilant - that this remains an evil world with those dedicated to the destruction of the U.S. and our allies.
    Thank you so much for sharing. I live and work in Manhattan (but was not here in 2001). Today is a warmer version of 9/11. I try very hard to take some time out to think about what happened during the day - unfortunately I was in the middle of an important doctor's appointment from 8:30-9:15 so couldn't do it then, but I took a moment before heading into the office. I am from the area and was fortunate not to lose anyone I know on 9/11, but everyone in the city has a story so I am very cautious around people to give them a particularly wide berth today because no one knows what they might be dealing with (generally something we should all try to do every day, but particularly important today).

    Governor Cuomo recently passed a law recently requiring a moment of silence in schools on 9/11. My children are in elementary school and the school notified us of this ahead of time. I took some time last night to explain to my kids why they were doing this so it had some meaning to them yet wouldn't be too scary either.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Rent free in tarheels’ heads
    Quote Originally Posted by duke74 View Post
    I had a discussion about this with a colleague yesterday. I have never visited the memorial, although I did see its construction from my window at the World Financial Center. Similarly, I have never visited the Holocaust Museum. Too painful for me (and it makes me angry), although I recognize the need for these memorials-especially as the direct generations affected pass on and because new generations need to be aware of the events and their significance.

    I remember when Schindler's List came out. I had no desire to see it, but we took my then 13 year old young son just for that reason.
    If you’re there to really immerse yourself, there’s nothing easy about it. The 9/11 Memorial is haunting, especially because there’s so much video. The Holocaust Museum is a whole different level of tough. I took my kids there this past spring and we spent more than half a day there... even listened to a live presentation from a survivor who was there that day as a guest speaker. I just think it’s so important to educate my kids about these things so they have proper perspective and understand that these things were so much more than a paragraph or a page in a history book.
    “Coach said no 3s.” - Zion on The Block

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Forest Hills, NY
    Quote Originally Posted by Dr. Rosenrosen View Post
    If you’re there to really immerse yourself, there’s nothing easy about it. The 9/11 Memorial is haunting, especially because there’s so much video. The Holocaust Museum is a whole different level of tough. I took my kids there this past spring and we spent more than half a day there... even listened to a live presentation from a survivor who was there that day as a guest speaker. I just think it’s so important to educate my kids about these things so they have proper perspective and understand that these things were so much more than a paragraph or a page in a history book.
    Completely agree...

  15. #15
    Just walked past Engine Co #1 station house in Brooklyn this evening. The lights in Manhattan depicting the fallen towers were visible from the top of building I'm staying in, too.

    Still intense.
    Nothing incites bodily violence quicker than a Duke fan turning in your direction and saying 'scoreboard.'

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