#27 9/11 Ten Years Later

Have we forgotten who we are?  Both individually and as a nation?  Watching footage of this terrible day brings back so many strong feelings and makes them fresh all over again. Remember ordinary citizens doing extraordinary things to help one another?  Remember their bravery and selflessness?  How people helped people -- coworkers, friends and strangers alike.

This country was united.  We all supported one another in our shock and grief,  but moreover we felt a collective determination as a country.   The nation came together -- out of such tragedy came such great resolve and strength.  It was a shared experience that reshaped us, we thought for the better.

Why have we forgotten who we are in the past decade?  It is because of the two wars; Hurricane Katrina;  the "mortgage meltdown" and ensuing near financial ruin of this country; or is it the persistent lies and blame that get tossed around daily in our workplaces, in our political arenas -- local, state and national.  Leaders would rather see people and their country fail rather than work together with respect.  Are we all emotionally  shut down because we feel so helpless?.  Where is our collective resolve now?

Let is use this day as an opportunity to remember who we are --

A good example is the CEO from the financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, Howard Lutnick.  On 9/11 he arrived late to work because he was taking his son to his first day of kindergarten.  He arrived after the first plane hit and was there to watch the towers fall.  Of his 960 employees, 658 were killed -- every employee in the World Trade Center --  including his brother and his best friend.

He and the rest of the workers could have just given up.  But because of his resolve and that of the other remaining employees, it was decided the "company would survive", they would not let what they had worked so hard for crumble.  Moreover they would  honor those that they had lost.  Those remaining employees pulled together and worked through their grief and got the company back up and running within a few days.

At that point CEO Lutnik's goal  "was to take care of the families of the people we lost and that was the most important thing".  It was decided that 25 percent of Cantor's profits for the next five years were to be set aside to be distributed to families of the deceased -- which turned out to be $180 million dollars; in addition, families health care costs were also covered for 10 years.

All Cantor employees were committed and Lutnick said, "It changed our outlook about what was important about business".  "It also created sort of that bang of what type of human being are you right here, right now".  "I didn't think that there was a choice.  Either we take care of our friends' families or I'm not a human being".

The company is bigger and stronger today because of all of their collective hard work -- and perhaps because they had a greater purpose than just making money.  CEO Lutnick said, "The best way to show someone you love them is to care for the people they love."

Let us begin anew this day our determination and resolve, individually and collectively and not forget who we are as Americans -- we care and we take care of each other -- or who are we are human beings?