Never Forget!
Like many of you, the attacks of September 11th, 2001 are burned into my psyche in a way that will never allow me to forget what happened that day. Much like the way older Americans remember Pearl Harbor the Boomers recall the assassination of President Kennedy, or the late Boomers like me the Challenger disaster, national defining moments have a way of being pressed into us so deeply, that they simply become part of us. That has been my experience and I revisit that day each year by watching the events unfold, as they happened, to honor the victims and to not forget.
That Day
Sometime between 8:46 am and 9:03 am that morning, I walked into my office and my phone was ringing. The person on the other end was a newer client who had recently retired. As soon as I answered, it was obvious she was in a state of panic! Without a hello she said, “Mike, what is going to happen to my money? A plane flew into the World Trade Center!!!" My response was like “What? What are you talking about?” She then tried to explain what was going on. I told her I would call her back and began searching for other colleagues to see if they knew what was going on.
The advisory firm I was with back then didn’t have TV’s or cable unless the advisor paid for it on their own. But we all an old timer named Bill, had a small color television, and usually had on CNBC. Soon, five or six of us were congregating in his office, glued to the TV. It wasn’t long before the second plane flew into the South Tower. At that point, I remember making a comment that “that guy Bin Laden was behind the attack.” As I recall, we continued watching in horror as both buildings collapsed, the Pentagon was attacked, and Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville, PA. Soon there was footage of the chaos in lower Manhattan, with people leaping from the burning towers and New Yorkers running for their lives covered in dust.
The next day Rudy Giuliani - at his very best - became “America’s Mayor.” And President Bush, was at Ground Zero re-assuring us that the perpetrators would be found and prosecuted.
This horrific event, a full-blown terrorist attack on the U.S., was THE defining moment for the world in the 21st Century. I would even go so far as to say the terrorist attack accomplished far more than the terrorists ever imagined. But now, 25 years later, the events that first united our country have become a source of division that I believe started on internet message boards - which were arguably the social media of that day!
The 25 years since the attacks have been anything but unifying.
A year or so after the attacks, I had an uncomfortable conversation with a friend of a friend who had joined us quite a few times for lunch. In that conversation, for the first time I heard the message board conspiracy theory that President Bush had ordered the attacks so he could retaliate against Saddam Hussein. Let’s just say I took exception to his theory and that was the last time I saw him.
In the years since, division and social media conspiracies have exploded! We now have people in the U.S. who believe “we deserved it,” and that people who are wary of the attackers are Islamophobic. We are not.
I believe the changes we’ve seen and are seeing now are a direct result of 9/11. We've essentially divided into two groups - who have opposing world views - resulting in the worst political division since the Civil War. The attacks resulted in more wars, more death, and more attempted attacks throughout the West which has lead to security and surveillance changes along with a distrust of our fellow Americans - driven largely by politics and social media.
This September 11th, let’s unify as Americans around what really happened. Let’s remember why and how the 2,997 souls who perished, the heroes of the day - especially the first responders who died that day. Let's remember our troops who made the ultimate sacrifice fighting terrorism overseas - and the ones who came home with both physical and mental injuries. Let's remember how we watched as New Yorkers came together that day and helped their neighbors escape the buildings - and lower Manhattan. And let's remember the leaders who led well that day.
Never Forget!
Michael P Henderson, CFP® CKA®
Founder – Crossover Point Advisors™
CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER ™ practitioner
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