On September 11, 2001, I was preparing for a speaking engagement at 8:46 am when American Airlines Flight 11 flew into the North Building of the World Trade Center. I had just started to speak when United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower.
At about 9:30 am, I was well into my talk when I noticed one of our partners walking straight up the centre aisle towards the stage to speak with me. I knew this person would never disturb me during a talk unless the news was urgent. It?s amazing how your mind will fill in gaps in information. In the minute or so it took him to walk up the center aisle, a dozen different scenarios passed through my mind, all while I was still speaking as if everything was fine.
I remember thinking did something had happened to my wife, or was one of the kids in trouble? My father was with me on the speaking tour, so I wondered if my Mother had experienced a health emergency. It was all speculation over the few moments it took him to reach the stage, but I knew that whatever the news was, it wasn?t good.
It was terrible news, or course. And just as I gave the audience the limited information I had, American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon killing 184 people. The unease only deepened when at 10:03, United Airlines Flight 93 crashed to the ground in Shankville, Pennsylvania, about 20 minutes from the hotel meeting room that I was standing in, killing 40 passengers and crew. The attacks eventually took 2977 lives.
As I write this blog, I am back on a plane once again. It?s the 10th anniversary of the attacks, and I?m at 35,000 feet flying to Vienna, Austria where I will be speaking this coming week.
My wife and family were not terribly excited about me flying on this particular date, but I am not going to allow terrorists to determine what I do and what I do not do. If the goal of terrorism is to instill fear, then I?m proud to fly on September 11th 2011.
What I Learned: The Triumph of Spirit over Tragedy
It took me over a week to get back to Canada after September 11, but despite the tragedy and chaos, it was a great experience to be in the United States to watch the human spirit at work.
I learned that the human spirit is much stronger than we think. When people come together focused on a common goal, truly anything is possible. The firefighters, police, medical workers, companies, professionals and countless volunteers that united as one to risk their lives for people they didn?t even know was amazing to watch, and a testament to what is possible.
It doesn?t matter whether it?s a family, a sports team, a business, a non-profit organization, a company, a division of a company or a government?when you have a group of committed people brought together by a common cause and unattached to credit or reward, truly anything is possible.
As I look at the financial crisis facing the US today, the lack of jobs and the undeniably difficult times for so many, I can?t help but wonder if both federal parties could benefit from this same spirit. To commit to a common cause. To stop posturing, and work with the same sense of urgency and selflessness that so many amazing Americans did post 9/11.
Have we learned? Will it take something so terribly tragic as 9/11 for people to work together as one again?