10 Years Later

This week it has been 10 years since the attacks on 9/11 where a bunch of monsters flew airplanes into buildings with the aim of killing thousands just for ideological sake. 10 years ago I was working at Sony Music and in the afternoon it became transparent what had happened in New York. A colleague on the work floor mentioned to me in passing that a plane had flown in the World Trade Center. Not long after I had to go to the mens room and saw a group of co-workers huddled together near a radio. I asked what was up and they replied that America was under attack.

I called my mother on the cellphone and she was watching television at home while the whole thing unfolded. 'It's terrible,' she said. Returning to my workplace I recall starting a conversation with a colleague and he was also aware of the situation. I said to him at the time; 'this is the start of a war,' reciting the attack on Pearl Harbor as a similar if not identical situation. My mother called me again and shared the awful news that the towers had collapsed. I knew right then and there that thousands had perished. Upon returning home I immediately put on the television and watched the images most people have engrained in their memories.

10 years later now and this week was full of remembrance. Most tv channels showed documentaries and Hollywood productions made after 9/11 dealing with this subject. One documentary made by 2 French brothers is particularly hair raising since they were on the scene and in the tower just minutes before it collapsed. Remembering that awful day is a good thing. We mustn't forget that if a person becomes too radical and too extreme in their thoughts, violence is just around the corner. And violence begets violence. Lets honor the victims and their families as well as that notion.