Fours Years Ago

September 11, 2001; it was a Tuesday morning and much like other Tuesday mornings I was at the gym for my morning workout before arriving at work. I usually got to the gym around 5:00 am so I could be at work by 8:00 am. I arrived at the gym at 5:15 am and proceeded with my workout. Around 5:50 am Pacific Time there was a strange murmur coming from the area by the televisions. Someone mentioned something about an airplane flying into the World Trade Center and I instantly thought to myself "Oh my God this is going to be bad". I made my way over to the televisions and watched the second plane crash into the other building at the World Trade Center. I continued my workout and watched the news trying to make sense of these events. I had heard about the plane crash in Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon. As I finished my workout and headed to the shower one gentleman mentioned something about a fifth airplane crash (which didn't turn out to be, thank God).

As I headed for work I called my wife at home and told her to turn on the news and she had already heard from her mother on the East Coast. I stopped at a local grocery store to pick-up a protein bar and some Gatorade and everyone was talking about the horrible tragedies. As I got to work someone mentioned the World Trade Center Buildings had collapsed; I couldn't believe what was happening.

I remember these events like they were yesterday; I guess this is my generation's "do you remember where you were when John F. Kennedy was shot?" because I remember all too well. The day at work was a blur and when I got home the television was tuned to the events of the day. I sat down with my then 3 and half year old daughter and told her today was a day that will live on in history forever. I know she didn't understand and I didn't want her to see the airplanes crashing into the World Trade Centers so we decided to switch the television off. My seven month old son was just crawling around the house.

My first "real" job out of college was for Deloitte Haskins & Sells in One World Trade Center. We had floors 94 through 102. I worked there for one year before moving on. My interview for them was at Windows on the World which was on the 110th floor. One World Trade Center was the second building to go down and it want down faster than the first. A brokerage firm had taken over the floors from Deloitte in 1993 when the first attack on the World Trade Center had happened and I believe 90% of the staff of this brokerage firm perished in the attacks. September 11, 2001 was a sad sad day in the history of the United States.

I had grown up in New Jersey about 20 miles from New York City and I know the New York skyline very well. I moved out of New Jersey 12 years ago and headed west but most of my family and my wife's family still resides there. I have been back to New Jersey a few times since 9/11/01 and every time we land at Newark Airport I look at the New York skyline and it looks naked without Twin Towers. It just isn't the same and I know a few people who had been directly affected by this tragedy. A very good friend of mine was due to get married in New York City 10 days after 9/11 and we were going to fly out for the wedding but I couldn't put my children on airplane so soon after the tragedies and we decided to cancel our trip. My friend did get married and now he has two lovely daughters so life does go on.

Amazingly life does go on even after a catastrophic event like 9/11 and hurricane Katrina. This country came together on 9/11/01 and everywhere you looked there was the American Flag. Now four years later there are only two people on our block displaying the American Flag and we are one of them. Does time heal all wounds or does it make people forget? My theory is time will go by no matter what and I better be doing something constructive with my life or I will forget. We as a country should never forget and we should be doing something constructive to ensure this horrible day never happens. Complacency breeds contempt and I think we as a country are becoming very complacent.

I pray to God we as country never have to go through another 9/11 but there are very bad people out there that hate this country and what this country stands for; these people will do anything to destroy us. Can we stop them? I certainly don't know but are we really doing the things necessary to protect our citizens? Again; I don't have the answers only questions. Is the war in Iraq necessary or are there more important domestic issues that should be attended to? Maybe but we need to ask these questions so we will always remember what happened four years ago.