On September 10th, 2001, I was attending college at Campbell University in North Carolina and watching Monday Night Football with several of my buddies at their place. For whatever reason, I was tired that night, had likely over indulged in our beverage of choice, and decided to go to bed. I lived in an apartment just off campus.

I got up at my normal time for a Tuesday morning and turned on ESPN SportsCenter to recap who had won the previous nights game. As I turned on the TV, I also walked into the kitchen to prepare some breakfast. In the middle of pouring my milk, I overheard the announcers encouraging all viewers to turn their channel to any news station for the updates on the "attack on America." I immediately ran back into the room leaving my bowl of cereal, and stared at the TV in complete and utter shock. I then picked up my cell phone and saw several missed calls from my mom, she wanted to make sure I was OK, and I called her back as I walked out the door.

Campbell University is located in Buies Creek, NC (near Fort Bragg). The student population is made up mostly of kids from NC; however, New York and New Jersey made up a large percentage of enrolled students.

My lone class on Tuesday mornings was at 11am and was more of an assembly than a class. The students called it "church" and it was required as part of the core curriculum to graduate which means everyone suffered through it. As I wandered onto campus and over to the D. Rich Auditorium, everyone looked the same; no one was really sure what to do or say to anyone. My first instinct was to check with my friends that I knew were from the Northeast and see if they had any family in the WTC (World Trade Center). I recall several of them saying they had an uncle or a cousin that worked there, but no one had any immediate family members in any of the buildings. Instead of having the assembly, everyone stood outside, formed a circle, prayed, and classes were dismissed for the day.

‍Generational Stories

‍If you ask any of our parents, grandparents, elders, etc., they can all tell you exactly what they were doing, where they were, and what they were feeling when we landed on the moon and man took its first steps onto foreign soil. For my generation, I believe history will show that 9/11 was our "moon landing." Both events marked a milestone in human history; however, my generation's was much less celebratory.

Every generation has the "where were you when" moment. I hope the event for the next generation is more reminiscent of the moon landing rather than the events on 9/11...

‍Since 9/11...

‍The world post 9/11 was different, one where people looked over their shoulder a little more. People came together immediately afterwards, but then huddled back into their sides of life. Many new facts, figures, and stories have emerged since 2001 and conspiracy theories are plentiful. I believe that there are many unknowns about what transpired that day and we will likely never know what actually happened. On 9-11 every year, we should all take a moment to retell the story to ourselves and our friends, "Where were you when... the planes hit the towers?," so that we can tell our children and grandchildren the story. Maybe and hopefully their "where were you when" moment will be different...

If you want to have a constructive conversation about this or anything else, message me, and let's grab coffee or a beer.

Have a good one,

Dan