Sept. 11, 2002, will be my 24th birthday. I live in Australia but there will most probably be no celebrating this year. Our hearts will be with the Americans.
-- Tracey Cross
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My heartfelt sympathy to all of us who have lost a friend, relative, business contact or other acquaintance on 9/11. It seems like almost everyone in the New York area is connected in some way to one or more of the victims. To learn about one very happy outcome of the tragic 9/11 experience, a story that involves my daughter and son-in-law's experience, read Being Late To Work Let Man Live When Towers Fell.
-- Bill Grollman, SmartPros President
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I was on the NJ Transit train between Newark and Penn Station when people on the train began pointing toward the WTC. People were on their cell phones and the unbelievable news just stunned everyone. From that moment on, I think every minute seemed to be like a dream, yet practically every moment can be vividly recalled by me today.
On September 11, I will be recalling those moments, and praying for all those who were the closest to the event that day -- whether physically or emotionally. For all those who lost their lives at the WTC that day, the loved ones who had to deal with the sudden and tragic loss of a friend or family member, and all those who came to help in the aftermath -- not only the emergency personnel, but also the volunteers and good samaritans. I will be praying especially for them.
I cannot be with my company or my family on September 11 because I am currently on active duty with the United States Army, having been mobilized in support of Operation Noble Eagle. I am proud to be doing my part in helping the leaders of this country provide homeland security. On September 11, when I salute the American flag, I will be saddened once again at the remembrance of those who died that day and those who have made the ultimate sacrifice since then in an ongoning effort to bring those responsible to justice. Most of all, on September 11, I will feel a tremendous sense of respect and admiration for those who came to help at Ground Zero -- I will have eternal gratitude for their dedication, caring, compassion and selflessness.
Sept. 11, 2002 will be a day of great sadness for me, but I will not be overwhelmed by grief because I will be strengthened by the tremendous sense of unity, patriotism, and human kindness that I have felt since Sept. 11, 2001. May God bless us all.
-- Douglas Tong, Hackettstown, NJ
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On September 11th, I'm going to wish for better foreign policy from our government, higher standards of security from fellow American citizens and more efficient government organizations such as the FBI, CIA and Immigration and Naturalization Service. Our citizens and institutions need to create policies and procedures which efficiently protect us from global crime. Our government needs to understand how we as Americans affect people from other cultures. Are we observed as greedy, arrogant people? Perhaps if our government would compromise, politely communicate more and demand less, we wouldn't have had September 11. Perhaps if we behaved as mature members of a world community rather than as selfish, self absorbed children, we wouldn't have had September 11.
-- Jennifer Chadwick, Saratoga, Calif.
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Quite simply, my wife and I plan to be flying. We had originally been scheduled to fly September 12, but moved our trip up a day just so we could fly on September 11. It's important to show we Americans will not succumb to fear unleashed by a mindless few.
-- Richard W. Sexson, Jr., CPA
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The goal of terrorism is to disrupt the normality and flow of life as we know it. There are many who believe that the terrorists greatest victory was not the thousands who tragically lost their life one year ago, but the financial markets that remained closed and the economic damage which has not yet gone away. As president of the Accounting Society at Yeshiva University, I feel it is important to not let the terrorists destroy our life, but to move on in spite of them. On 9/11/01 I was sitting in a classroom at Yeshiva University and on 9/11/02 I plan on interviewing on campus for accounting positions starting Fall 2003. My heart goes out to all those who are no longer with us, but I feel that a national disruption of the workplace would be giving the enemy a taste of victory.
-- Avi Reichman
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Scheduling my next appointment at the dentist, I was asked if 8 am on Sept. 11, 2002, was too early for me. Anytime at the dentist is too early for me. I was just stunned and for once had no response, which is very unusual for me. The receptionist, was surprised and said, "Jack, are you all right? If that's too early in the morning, we can do it in the afternoon, no one seems to want to come in that day."
I answered, "Right. Make it the next day, as late as possible."
-- Jack Fox, Las Vegas, NV
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It will be hard to escape the memories of that terrible day because reminders will be everywhere -- on television, in the newspapers and in everyday conversations.
And, the same uncomfortable emotions that first surfaced for many after the tragedy -- including anxiety, fear, sleeplessness, depression and other feelings and behaviors -- may return.
The New York Stock Exchange will be open, and so will Merrill Lynch. However, we have been advised to be especially sensitive to colleagues, as each of us copes in his or her own way. In addition, the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) will be there to help if reactions to this anniversary become difficult for someone. EAP counselors will be available from 9 am to 6 pm by phone, or in the medical clinic.
As I reflect on the past year and look back to the tragic events of September 11 I am overwhelmed with emotion. My outlook on and priorities in life have been extremely altered. I have learned to treasure everyday and take nothing for granted.
Working in New York City and living just a borough away in Brooklyn, I witnessed first hand how this horrific tragedy affected the lives of so many. Some of which are close to me. This memorial (which was published in the New York Times) is a tribute to the father of one of my dearest friends, FDNY Captain Vincent Brunton.
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Cathy Brunton had always known that her husband, Vincent, the captain of Truck Company Ladder 105, loved being a firefighter. He joined the department 22 years ago, the same year they got married, the same year their daughter Kelly was born.
But it was not until she received a four- page letter from a young firefighter she did not recall having met that Mrs. Brunton came to appreciate the kind of firefighter her husband had been, the lessons he was always prepared to teach and the depth of respect others had for him.
"I could go into his office at 11:30 p.m. and ask him a fire question and he would lean back in his chair and tell me countless stories," the letter from the firefighter, Will Hickey, said. "He would say the best way to learn is from your mistakes. 'If you're not making mistakes, you are not trying.' "
Even a false alarm provided an opportunity to learn. Mr. Hickey described how terrified he once had been at a fire with Captain Brunton. Flames were shooting out the windows and the roof. "I was thinking to myself, 'This guy is absolutely crazy! What is he thinking, he's John Wayne or something?' " But Captain Brunton, 43, took his arm and showed him what to do.
"I have put a small picture of him on the underside of my helmet," Mr. Hickey said. "Sometimes I just touch it to remind me to stay calm, to keep it simple and to 'think on my feet."
From "A Nation Challenged: The Victims." The New York Times. Nov. 29, 2001. |
-- Kristie Cannucci
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All in the course of a day ... Sept. 11, 2001 awakened as any other day for a solo practitioner/consultant. The crush of work and administrative issues that were left undone impatiently waited for attention, with their new siblings -- the To Do list for the new day.
One dawning news story was different from the rest. Although the newscaster reported that a plane had just crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers, there was something just not right about the report. It was surprising that the newscaster didn’t catch it. The site of the accident is extremely visible. The likelihood of not seeing the tower was like not seeing an elephant on a plain in Kansas.
In the time it took to register that thought the next one demanded an answer. Was that a passenger plane or a private one? If a passenger plane, this was as horrible an event as The Challenger.
Within the next 90 minutes, the toll of crashes and lost lives mounted as both towers crumbled and came crashing down on all humanity beneath and within them and as the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania added to the destruction toll. All those souls who went about doing their usual routine on a Tuesday morning. The carping about wages, hours, the difficult co-worker or supervisor. Attending to the mindless opening rituals of the day and fully expecting the workplace to be a safe environment, these people experienced an earthquake jolt in their sense of what and where is safe. Little did any of us anywhere appreciate the far-reaching ripple effects of the attacks on the World Trade Towers, the Pentagon, and the aborted attack on the White House.
But as a solo practitioner, there were appointments and projects that had real deadlines and penalties for missing them. So life was still business as usual -- press on to meet the commitments and deliver.
As the day wore on, little resembled normal. Public transportation is my sole means of commuting. On September 11, transports seemed to take even longer than usual. At the first juncture, I finally gave up waiting for the bus and walked the uphill mile to deliver one document. The intention was to then speed my way to the downtown library to use the resources necessary for the project – the only place where those resources were available. I was stopped. The manager at the site informed me that bus service to downtown was terminated for the next several days and all of downtown was closed.
I was forced to slow down that day and take an even closer look at the humanity that passed around and about me, to listen more carefully to the stories these people told. Some were completely oblivious to the events and continued in their microbial worlds. Others sublimated. A hush hung over the city as people numbly waited, waited for some piece of reality that said none of these horrors had actually occurred.
For me, life and business could not stop and ponder any longer than taking lunch and walking back to my SOHO. Clients and businesses were still depending on my performance. Bills still needed to be paid, deadlines still needed to be met through alternative means.
As the ensuing weeks wore on, many considered whether there would be other attacks and projected the locations of the next likely sites. I stood on bus stops and waited in lobbies and wondered if I and my fellow waiting companions would become the next attack statistics. Victims merely because we happened to be standing where the shrapnel or debris fell to snuff out our lives as well.
Racial tensions took four ratchets up on the scale of intensity. A new class of people became targets. Hate and incendiary speech proliferated discussion boards and meetings, born of the shock that needed mitigation. My determination to create acceptance of diversity and others as individuals intensified.
In the end, everything has become part of the new reality. The United States tasted the bitter gunpowder of warfare in her own bosom and gained a new understanding of why some countries hate. Some ponder how there can be acceptance of living in a state of wondering from minute to minute, hour to hour, whether their home or workplace, school or shopping center will be the site of a missile that turns it into a shambled heap of debris and death. In the long run, we learned that it is impossible to live in that type of fear. United States citizens took a step into appreciating what that type of life is like. We were given an opportunity to identify with the issues of other countries gripped in the vice of warfare not only on their homeland but in their everyday lives. The reality is not comfortable. A means of surviving and overcoming the fear needs to be in place. Life has to keep going.
So, on September 11, 2002, there will be no planned observation of the day, no recollection. I’m still a solo practitioner and consultant. I still have deadlines and commitments that grow like bacilli in a Petri dish. September 11, 2002 will be a matter of getting as much done as possible in a day. It will be all things that are now normal in the course of a day.
-- Yvonne La Rose
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As a solo practitioner, with no employees, I will be treating it as any other day although it is my anticipation that my clients' schedules will be scaled back. As my motto became on Sept. 11, 2001, it will be my patriotic duty to carry on and do my part to keep the wheels on commerce turning. On Sept. 11, 2001, I was lucky enough to be performing due diligence at a client who ran a nursing home and assisted living facility as my downtown office building was evacuated and my parking garage heavily guarded. It felt good to make sure that my client was taken care of on that day. Although not performing due diligence at the nursing home, it is my intention to do the same on September 11, 2002 by remembering how important it is everyday to cherish those you care about, take of each other, and perform to the best of my ethical and responsible ability in a very crazy world.
-- Rebecca J. Wallace
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I plan to continue wearing an American flag on my lapel and will spend more time in prayer on that day. Since I have no employees, I'll be here by myself.
This dreadful event of war has brought this great United States of America together as never before. It has been an awakening of the awesome presence of God that I have not seen in my lifetime.
It can never be disputed that the events of this day in the yester year were most traumatic for those who lost their beloved ones and much more. The greatest homage that one can pay to the departed is to send a message to the perpetrators of this dastardly act that the SPIRIT OF FREEDOM is still alive and one can do this in no better way than striving to excel in whatever one can do or does. The terrorists have created a fear psychosis. One should never be coerced into fear and should respond with a "BUSINESS AS USUAL" attitude with monetary gains and or earnings of that day being contributed to charities etc. which are specifically set up for alleviation of the persons effected by the happenings of Sept. 11, 2001.
-- Keki Elavia
