September 11, 2024
23 years on, this is what comes to mind as we look back on that horrible day....
Resiliency.
I think that this is a word that all of us who live and work in New York can share, no matter your race, religion, or political affiliation.
As we approach the quarter mark of the 21st Century, we here in NY have lived through so much. The 2020 pandemic, which affected the whole world of course, but hit NY in the beginning very hard. Before that, there was Super Storm Sandy, which put many of us out of our homes, at least for a short while. (Many others were out a lot longer).
Of course, 9/11 was the first of these disasters. And while the pandemic killed more people, the terrorist attack in many ways hit harder. To be honest, by the time the pandemic hit, I can honestly say my attitude was "What's next?"
But on September 10th, 2001, I was blissfully unaware that anything like what happened the next day was possible. It seems hard to believe that I could be so naive.
They had tried to blow up the World Trade Center on February 26, 1993. 6 people died and there was tons of damage, but the buildings still stood. We promised we'd be more alert. But the reality was, at least from where I stood, that was their best punch.
We found out 8 years later that it wasn't.
And now because of what happened 23 years ago today, and everything else that has happened since, we have been forced to be resilient. We keep having to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off and press forward.
For those that lost someone on 9/11, and we lost almost 3,000 people in a matter of minutes, the struggle to pick up and move forward has been rough, on some days, especially around this time of year, it may have seemed impossible. But so many have done just that.
This morning, they will read the names of everyone who perished that day. Many of the names will be read by kids who either weren't yet born or were very young when their relative was murdered. Whether it be a niece or nephew who was born after 9/11 and has only heard stories about thier aunt or uncle who they never got to meet, or even more heartbreaking a child who either has no memories or very faint ones of a parent they lost, there was someone left behind who had to raise these kids having lost someone close to them. As President Biden once said during the pandemic, empty chairs at the dinner table.
For all those who have been able to do that, I hope they can find some comfort in the fact that despite so many times in these past 23 years where they wondered how they were going to do it, they did it. They pushed forward. They carried on. Amazing strength.
Pure resiliency.
God Bless those we lost that day, and those that were left behind.
God Bless all those who have died of sicknesses they developed while digging through the rubble.
May God continue to give strength and hope to all of us.
And May God Bless America
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