09/11/2024
23 years ago the number 2 became significant in my life.
2 Towers fell
2 Of my relatives were missing for 10-17 hours after the attack
2 Friends called to tell me that had their plans for the day came to fruition that they’d have been victims in the towers.
2 also standing for 2nd in the term “2nd Responder,” became a very real phrase as my father witness more than 70 of his people, all 2nd responders die in tower 2.
In the coming days, weeks and months I would see my father go in each day. He would fight with the EPA about the air quality in the rubble under the towers. He would make sure his people weren’t put in harms way during the rescue and recovery process.
He wore the same 2 boots to that site everyday. They still sit on a shelf in my parents basement.
We acknowledge the victims and all of the first responders who were involved in that attack, as we should.
But I’m going to ask you to remember also the flight crews who still have to face the fear of that situation reoccurring again each day they come into work. Their jobs and training changed drastically after 911. The flight crew on an aircraft is essentially trained to be every member of a first response team in the event they need to perform live saving tasks in the air.
And please remember all of the people who dedicated their lives to helping make sure that site was safe during the rescue and recovery process.
In addition to the first responders there were phone workers, sewer workers and electrical workers. These are the same people who make sure your services are restored during every disaster. They are known as 2nd Responders. I’ve watched them show up in droves after we’ve had hurricanes here in NJ from across the nation. Quite often no one remembers their roles during these events.
Every time I fly now I bring small gifts for the flight crew. Typically little bags of candy or mints. I always make sure to have cold bottles of water and snacks when utility workers are coming to my home. Just a small act of kindness for people whom most people overlook or forget to acknowledge.
The internal scares of those affected can’t be seen with the naked eye but they are very real and tremendously painful.
They are a secondary effect of 911.❤️ God Bless Us Everyone.
