This week, we were fortunate to have a very inspirational speaker, Ted Bell, to show us what happened to him on 9/11.
There wasn’t a dry eye in the room as he showed us two video pieces from the actual attack and from a “Tunnel to Tower” run for the 343 fire fighters who lost their lives because they ran towards, not away from, the cataclysmic inferno above them.
This was not the usual kind of motivational speech we were expecting. Sure, it was about 9/11, and it was being given on 9/13, pretty close to the 21st anniversary of that horrible terrorist attack on our country, our people, our values, our freedom and our entire way of life.
Ted started out by reminding us that our young people, our children and grandchildren still in school, were probably not even born when 9/11 happened 21 years ago. They know the term, but they were not there; they did not see it happening on television; and they certainly didn’t see the horror right in front of Ted’s eyes as he viewed it from across the plaza from the twin towers in his 40th floor Merrill-Lynch offices. That was less than a block away.
As he watched the fires from the first attack; and then saw the burst, felt the heat and the concussion from the second plane crashing into the second tower, he realized his world was changing before his very eyes. His wife and 3 year old daughter lived only a block away, but they were able to escape – without anything but the clothes on their backs. Six years later, he retired and they moved to The Woodlands, where they live today.
Just as we were gathering ourselves together from that video, he continued with a different video from a “Tunnel to Tower” fund-raising run which was held to raise funds for the families of the 343 fire fighters who rushed towards and into the inferno of those burning, exploding buildings. Bodies were flying through the air, steel girders melting and bursting out into the area around the twin towers. None of that deterred those fire fighters from their deadly mission. The run was incredibly inspiring and left all of us with the deep, personal feelings from that day – the feeling of helplessness, of anger, and determination to never let this happen again.
Ted pointed out some facts many of us had not heard before: 1) Cell phones and communications were all routed through antennae on the roof of each of the twin towers, so the many office workers had little chance of getting or sending any communications to or from anyone. 2) There was an earthquake during the fires, and that likely contributed to the devastation as the fires consumed the interior structure of the towers. 3) These videos had not been shown in public more than once before.
Yes, we were awestruck by the intense but renewed feelings we all had on 9/11/2001. Thank you, Ted!
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