Memories of Sept 11th 2001
On this day 19 years ago, I was presenting at a Compaq product launch in Jerusalem. After the event I returned to my hotel on the beach in Tel Aviv and got a call from a colleague at the office in Long Island asking if I’d seen the news. I turned on the TV and saw the second plane smash into the Towers, and then seconds later heard the sound of armed helicopters in the sky patrolling the beach outside my window, a line of them stopped in the air, scanning the horizon. The airspace was closed, and we waited to see what would happen next.
It took me a few days to be able to get back to New York. I worked from our offices at 140 Broadway, just over the road from the twin towers. Our office was full of air scrubbers and from our 50th floor windows I looked down into the still burning and smoking remains of those amazing buildings.
To honor those lives that were changed forever that day, I made the decision to not let the scum who did this win in any way, taking every single opportunity to travel, and promote the values of freedom, capitalism and happiness, and I’ve never stopped.
Since then and in many ways because of 9/11, I moved to the USA, fell in love with both New York City and the love of my life and became a citizen.
The bravery shown that day by people of every denomination, uniform and political persuasion will live with us all forever.