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 and where I was. 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. 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.
Back then, the advisory firm I was with didn’t have tv’s or cable unless the advisor paid for it on their own. But we all knew Bill, an old timer with the firm, 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 “this guy BinLaden 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 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, 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. But now, the events that first united our country have become a source of division that started on internet message boards - which were the social media of the day. In fact, I would go so far as to say the terrorist attack accomplished far more than the terrorists ever imagined.
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 may still be 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 essentially 2 groups in this country who have opposing world views resulting in the worst political division since the Civil War, more wars and more death, more attempted attacks throughout the West, leading to security and surveillance changes, and 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 the 2,997 souls who perished and why - the heroes of the day, especially the first responders who died that day (and years later), our troops who made the ultimate sacrifice overseas or came home with both physical and mental injuries, the New Yorkers who helped their neighbors escape the buildings and lower Manhattan, and the leaders who led well that day and beyond.
Never Forget!
Michael P Henderson, CFP® CKA®
Founder – Crossover Point Advisors™
CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER ™ practitioner
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