September 11 - 19 Years Later

I remember the early morning of September 11, 2001. I woke up a little late that day as I headed off to work on the subway. When I arrived in midtown, a homeless man was shouting that planes had hit the World Trade Center. I was not sure if he was rambling or whether something actually happened. I passed by television screens in vestibules that showed smoke coming out of both the towers. My initial thoughts were that maybe these were small airplanes that had mistakenly crashed. I remembered that an airplane once crashed into the Empire State Building. As I got closer to my office, I learned that these were not small aircraft, but large commercial planes that crashed at different times. The thoughts that we were under attack started to grow. In my office, the internet connection was spotty, but more and more information was being provided by colleagues passing by. The news kept streaming in that one of the Towers had fallen, that the Pentagon was hit, then the second tower had fallen, another plane crashed in Pennsylvania and other planes were believed to be hijacked. It felt like it was time to leave the office, that we were at war, and who knows what would happen next. I walked from midtown to the 59th Street bridge. The smoke was billowing from the downtown area and people scrambled across the bridge. Many got on the back of flatbed trucks. I continued to walk and think for about an hour and a half until I reached my car parked in Forest Hills. The rest of the day was both solemn and surreal. There was uncertainty, anger, and grief, but a feeling that our country would overcome this and respond forcibly against those responsible. The ensuing days would bring a sense of shared unity, shared grief, and shared purpose that we, as Americans would overcome this.

19 years later and we are suffering through the worst pandemic in over one century, deep social tensions, and economic uncertainty. Almost 200,000 Americans have died, and the nation seems more polarized than since the days of the Civil War. Our nation, consisting of our people, truly needs physical, mental, and emotional healing.