9/11: Helpers and Hope
Twenty-two years ago today, I was pregnant with our son Sam, who was due to arrive in early 2002. It was a Tuesday. As my work morning got underway, we began to hear about a plane crashing into the World Trade Center in New York City. The news got progressively worse. It wasn’t a crash, it was a terrorist act. We brought TVs in to offices so we could keep up with the unfolding, and horrifying, developments.
I could not believe what I was seeing. I saw and heard the same shock and fear in everyone around me.
The death toll was 2,977, ranging in age from 2 to 82. So many families suffered devastating losses, and our nation’s sense of security was also devastated.
Out of that terrible, terrible day, there were stories of survival and help that countered the destruction with some hope and resilience.
When I joined a school group on a trip to NYC in early 2018, our stop at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum was a profound experience for me. If you have the chance to experience it, it won’t be light, and it will be emotional and meaningful.
This stairway in the museum, known as the “Survivor’s Staircase” really captured my emotions. It allowed hundreds of people to escape 5 World Trade Center, adjacent to the Twin Towers, and live to see another day. The story of the staircase after 9/11 is an interesting one, but I so appreciate that it has a place in this museum.
The hope in finding a way out.
And a second story that I honestly knew little about until recently, was the Boatlift evacuation. Another amazing example of the human capacity for service, compassion, and resilience. Nearly 500,000 were evacuated off of the island of Manhattan in 9 hours, surpassing the Dunkirk evacuation in WWII. (Both are amazing stories of hope and help.)
Our son Sam is 21 and a senior in college. I consider how much our nation and world has changed since 9/11. Through so much loss, fear, and destruction, helpers and hope came through that day and every day since. How can you and I help today, in our own little ways? How can we build hope and resilience? It all matters. It really does. And it may be our only way through these evolving and contentious times. Love wins.
