10 Years Ago Today

10 years ago today I was asleep in our house in Berkeley - the one on Sacramento Street that we had bought right after we got married.  It was a Tuesday morning and for some reason, I'd had the alarm set for 6 AM. (Unusual since our business required us to work late hours so we usually didn't get up that early).

Anyway, at 6 AM (which was 9 AM New York time), the radio came on with the news of the plane crash.  I immediately turned on the TV and we watched the second plane crash and everything that followed.  We were stunned.  Shock and despair - all we could do was hold each other.

And then the day kicked in.  Phones started ringing.  Phone trees kicked in as everyone checked to make sure their colleagues, friends and loved ones were safe.  I was again impressed with how well run the Junior League is - within hours, we'd learned that one of our colleagues had been on the 101st floor.  Networks were tapped to check all the hospitals in the area to see if she was there - but to no avail.

The only reaction to so much trauma and devastation is shock - and the need to do something - anything.  But being on so far away - the possibilities were limited.  So we did the only thing we could think of - and what many other people thought of as well.  We went down to our local American Red Cross and joined the long line to give blood.

We also had some business decisions to make.  Do we open for business as usual - like any other day? Do we shut down the theater for the night? Do we open for business, but just show the news?  We had become a community center - a place were people came together to share their lives.  What would be best for our community and our employees?

In the end, we decided to open for business and show our regular movies.  We hoped that we might be able to be a place of respite for people who were looking for an escape from the news of the day.  With so much horror - if we could offer anyone a moment's peace - we wanted to be able to do that.

And since we made pizza for a living - we brought stacks of large pizzas over to the blood bank.  They'd been working hard all day and the lines of people waiting to donate blood were still around the block.

We got home that night - exhausted and full of despair.  The world had changed.  It felt like all hope was gone.  All we could do was hold each other.

And then - nine months later - hope arrived.

10 years later our world has changed tremendously.  The impact of the events of 9/11 continue to ripple throughout the world.  Sometimes it seems as though the devastation and despair that began that day continues to grow.  Acts of hatred continue to sow acts of hatred and hope can seem very far away.

And that is why we must always remember the acts of courage and selflessness and love that came from that day - that we all came together and put our differences aside towards common goals.  Some of our finest moments came from that day.

As we move forward to tackle all of the challenges that face us - it would be great if we could remember (and invoke) that ability to put our differences aside and work together.  The more we work together to build and support our communities, the more we try to contribute in any way possible, the better chance we have of pushing despair away and keeping hope close.  And we've shown that when we work together - we can achieve amazing things!