It was shortly after 9am and I had just arrived in my office on LaSalle Street in Chicago. My phone rang and it was my Dad. He said turn on your computer and go to the news and then I think you should get out of the Loop. I was still on the phone with him when images of the first tower falling started coming online. I couldnt move. I couldnt really register what I was seeing. Emails suddenly began arriving in my inbox. Have you heard from [such and such]... shes in New York for a deal this week. Do you know if [such and such] got out on their flight this morning.... As so many of us did that day, we either knew someone working in the World Trade Center or working or living nearby. Anxiety and worry started filling my heart. Confusion began to grasp everyone in the office. Was the building being evacuated? Did we still have a meeting scheduled at 10? There were partners in my office that insisted we get back to work and partners that insisted that we leave. Finally the building was officially evacuated as was the rest of the Loop. A friend and I decided to meet in the Lobby and go from there. When we piled out onto LaSalle Street there was no traffic, only people on foot flooding into the streets and there was complete silence. Millions of people and complete silence. It took my breath away. My friend and I walked for some time in silence ourselves. We didnt need to speak because the collective fear and worry of everyone around us communicated enough. Was the Sears Tower a target? That was just one block away from work. Lets head for the lake. My apartment was less than a block away from the John Hancock building, could I even get home? My friend and I walked until we were hungry and searched for a restaurant that was open. When we finally found one and sat down to our table, a family of middle eastern origin or descent walked in and stood at the hostess stand. The mother was wearing a hijab and the entire restaurant turned and stared. You could feel the anger being directed at this poor family. I felt a wave of panic and shame. How quickly hatred is born. I could no longer eat anything. We left the restaurant and wondered the streets some more. When we were finally allowed to enter my apartment building and we turned on the news we both wept. Hard, jolting sobs came out of my friend. It was the first time I had seen a man cry like that. Even to this day I can be brought to tears just thinking about it. I still cant fully come to grips with the fact that those buildings came down. Its still hard to accept. Whenever I am in New York I still expect them to be standing there. Later that evening the news started coming in from friends that everyone we knew was safe. Some people were downtown but they were alive. Thank God they were alive but the pain at the loss of so many was overwhelming. Every year on this anniversary I spend time praying for peace. Peace in the hearts of those who lost their loved ones, peace in the hearts of all of us, peace in the hearts of our leaders, peace, just one nugget of peace in the hearts of anyone who would cause harm to our precious human lives wherever they are. Peace. I pray for us all to wake up and see that we are all One. To see that we do not need enemies and that if we walk away from the identities we have built around ourselves that separate us, we will be able to live together peacefully. Ethnicity, nationality, religious affiliation, political idiology, gender, marital status, neighborhood, vocation, IQ... none of those identities actually means anything. But what means something is our shared humanity and our ability to love. #love #peace #remember
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 18:36:07 +0000
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