On Sept. 11, 2021 — the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks — I published Part I of a blog post about the occasion. CLICK HERE FOR THE 9/11/21 BLOG POST. I planned to publish Part II the following day, but I didn’t. Nor did I publish it in all the days that followed,…
9/11
20 Years After 9/11, Part I
“The days are long, but the years are short.” I think of that saying every September 11. On that date in 2001, in the wake of the deadliest foreign terrorist attack on U.S. soil, it felt like time stopped, or, at least, that it should have, because how could life ever be the same? Instead,…
September 12 and the Wall Street Journal
The 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks is practically upon us. I’m working on a post about that, of course. In the meantime, I wanted to share a couple of things related to the Wall Street Journal and MrB (aka Paul Steiger, aka the managing editor of the WSJ from 1991 through 2007). The…
19 Years Later: Hypocrisy and Community
Nineteen years ago today, I was working at a building complex across the street from the World Trade Center. I was supposed to go to a meeting at my company’s WTC offices, but I decided I’d participate by phone instead. That was a stroke of luck, because that morning, 19 men — 15 of them…
September 11 and Fear Itself
In 1933, the year the Great Depression reached its lowest point, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated as president and famously told the nation “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” It’s worth reading more of that speech today — the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. Here is the whole first…
September 11: The 17th Anniversary
Seventeen years ago today, I was working across the street from the World Trade Center in what was then called the World Financial Center. Here’s what I’ve written about 9/11 since I started this blog, from the oldest post to the most recent. 2007: September 11 Is Here Again. 2008: Laughing While Crying, The Prodigal…
September 11, 2017: “We Go Higher”
On September 11, 2001, 3,051 children ages 18 and under lost a parent during the coordinated terrorist attacks on the U.S. Those parents were in the airplanes that were turned into weapons, in the World Trade Center, and in the Pentagon. Some of their children now want to tell a story of hope through a…
15 Years After 9/11: The Story of Rick Rescorla
On the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, I recommend that you read (or re-read) the 2002 New Yorker story by James B. Stewart called, “The Real Heroes Are Dead.” It’s about an English-born Vietnam veteran named Rick Rescorla, who became the director of security for Morgan Stanley, a financial firm based in the…
Fourteen Years, and Marcy Borders
Last month, Marcy Borders died of stomach cancer. She had had a difficult life since Sept. 11, 2001. On that day, she was 28 and had been at her job at Bank of America for just a month. Her office was on the 81st floor of the north tower of the World Trade Center. She…
September 11: The Thirteenth Anniversary
I have not yet been to 9/11 Memorial Museum, but acquaintances who have gone photographed a display that tells the story of the Wall Street Journal’s Sept. 12, 2001, issue. That quote across the top — “I want a six-column headline!” — is from MrB. He was the managing editor of the Wall Street Journal…