On the 19th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, I thought I would share portions of a letter I wrote during my own 9/11 experience. In our current pandemic times, I hope it speaks for itself.

Events of the past week have certainly saddened, angered, and perhaps challenged all of us. I arrived in New York at 6 a.m. on the morning of September 11th. I went straight to my hotel and took a nap prior to some press meetings scheduled for the afternoon. I woke up around 10:30 and still didn’t realize what had happened. It wasn’t until someone from our PR agency called and said, “I know your whole trip is messed up now, I’m here to help any way that I can.” With that I turned on CNN and saw the tragic news.

There really aren’t words to express what happened in New York and Washington DC. I grieve for those who died and for those who lost loved ones. I marvel at the courage firefighters and police are showing to rescue and help others. I’m amazed at the stories of survival of those who have been pulled from the destruction alive. While I never felt threatened, it wasn’t easy to go to sleep that Tuesday night – it was very surreal to look out over Times Square at 10 p.m. and see almost nobody outside, and then turn back to the TV to see the horror again and again….

For the rest of this post, head on over to my LinkedIn page.