09/11/2023
From our CEO John Wood -
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Today marks the 22nd anniversary of the terrorist attacks against our country on September 11, 2001.
Like President Kennedy’s assassination or the Challenger explosion, it is a day in history that those who lived through it will never forget.
I was vacationing in North Carolina, walking on the beach, when I saw F-14 fighter jets emerge from seemingly out of nowhere and race up the coast. It was not until I returned to the house that I understood the horror of what was happening. I am sure many of you can recall with the same clarity exactly where you were and what you were doing that Tuesday morning. The mental snapshots of the day will remain in our mind’s eye forever.
Some of you may be too young to recall 9/11 – or perhaps you were not yet born. With each passing year, we risk becoming increasingly detached from the emotions of that day and the days that followed, when we united as a country and witnessed first-hand the heroism, resilience, and hope that can rise from tragedy.
We must not let the passage of time dull our memory, or relegate the events of 9/11 to something we read about in a history book.
If you have the opportunity, I encourage you to visit one of the 9/11 memorials. The memorials at Ground Zero in New York City, the Pentagon, and the field in Shanksville are moving reminders for all generations – those who lived through that day and those who are too young to remember – of the sacrifices and heroism of that day, and the resilience of the human spirit that emerged after.
Never forget.
Peace,
jbw