Take a minute on this eighth anniversary of 9/11 to remember that a lot of people from Massachusetts died on that day.
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Eight years have gone by
Reality-based commentary on politics.
Brian will be forever remembered by those whose lives he touched. His smile lit up a room. He was most definitely one of the good ones. Brian my friend, Rest in Peace.
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was on the speakerphone with us when the first plane hit. He was meeting with investors concerning our company on the 94th floor of the World Trade Center’s South Tower. I didn’t know him well but his leadership was missed.
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p>We cannot forget 9/11 for any reason.
He was the pilot of AA flight 11 that fateful morning. A lot of people knew him in Dracut (though I did not) and I learned his daughters attended my high school. His funeral at the local Catholic parish was one of the biggest events my town had ever seen, with both US Senators among the dignitaries as I recall.
The Captain’s name was JOHN. His brother Jim ran for Congress in 2007 and is still very much alive. My apologies:(
Every year on this day, my wife and I raise a glass to all those who died in NYC and Washington and especially to the brave folks on United flight 93, who may very well have saved my life and the lives of many of our family and close friends.
While I do not know anyone that died personally I know that my mom’s cousin Richard was scheduled to go on that flight to Los Angeles for business and at the last minute cancelled so he could stay home on his wife’s birthday. His love for her and God’s love for him spared him from a terrible fate. Since that day he stepped up the pro bono computer work he already did with at risk kids.
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p>Moreover I remember just the stress and anxiety of sitting with my 8th grade class as our teacher’s were just as speechless as we were and then seeing the entire world change completely before our eyes. I remember my dad drove back to school about an hour after it started to give me a Spanish portfolio I had forgotten. Incidentally that spanish test never came and I didn’t need it anyway but I was worried when I came home that dad, who would usually go to sleep around 10 (he worked the night shift) might have missed the news. Apparently he didn’t and he stayed up all day watching coverage as well. Mom worked at Watertown High and was also in a school setting seeing kids just a little bit older than I freaked out by the attacks.
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p>Incidentally my schools’ annual 8th grade trip to London and Toronto was cancelled at we ended up in boring old Amish country. Of course that consequence paled in comparison to the many deaths and horrible tragedies that occured that day but I do remember cursing his name under my breath as I walked through a tour of a Lancaster barn.
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p>Just an awful day. But I did appreciate the outpouring of love, citizenry, and comraderie that happened afterward. September 12th was truly the finest day to be an American and I only wish that spirit of community survived to this day intact.
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p>I would say that moment and being near Grant Park on the day President Obama won were the two moments that most defined my own personal experience of being an American. I including that latter example will offend my other winged friends on these boards but to see so many black people from the South Side who never get a fair shake feel that they made it, that we all made it, I connect it to 9/11 when we all realized we were just Americans and our common struggles were greate than our differences.
Watching the whole attack unfold was just as unbelievable as the day it happened. I did not know anybone who died that day. I do feel a tremendous amount of grief when I think about all of the people involved, those in the planes, in the buildings, and the families of those who spoke to their their trapped loved ones moments before their death. The firefighters and rescue workers who lost their lives during the incident and the one that are now facing serious health issues because of their rescue efforts.
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p>It is just as painful today as it was 8 years ago.
of that day. Lost a client, a neighbor in Norwell, and almost lost a friend who was at the epicenter of everything attending the NABE conference at the WTC Marriott. If you want a first hand account from an economist having things literally unfold over his head, read this recollection:
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p>http://www.nabe.com/am2001/eng…
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p>Probably the weirdest memory when this all unfolding was talking to the president of our little company, whose daughter was an Air Force AWACS pilot. Her crew had been on leave in Germany and were flying back to the US on 9/11. Their commercial flight was diverted straight to Tinker AFB dumping them off and then 2 weeks later over to the Middle East, where she spent 7 months living in a tent flying missions over Afghanistan. Between his daughter, son, and son-in-law, they all served over the next two years. He had some serious skin in the game.
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p>Never forget.