9/11

Ten years ago, I found myself in the weight room completing a morning work-out class, required for all freshman basketball players. We'd fulfilled the grueling morning conditioning and quietly moved around the empty weight room. In the corner television I caught a glimpse of the World Trade Center with smoke pouring out of the side. One month before, my mother treated me to a vacation to the destination of my choosing for graduation and I chose New York City! One of the few places in this world that lived up to every expectation I'd ever held. I fell completely in love with the City and longed to return.> Now, I sat stunned watching a building I had stood on top of weeks before, on fire. I thought the building was simply on fire. Tragic, yes but nothing close to the reality that literally came crashing in as the second plane hit the South Tower.

Dismissed from the remainder of the morning workout, I ran back to my dorm and down the hall to my newest best friend on campus. I knocked on her door, walked in and clumsily said, "I think we're being attacked..." As a dutiful freshmen, we still went to our morning classes still not quite sure what to think or do. On the overheard projector, our professor was streaming the news as they covered the events unfolding in New York. Excused from class and informed that all classes that day were suspended, a dozen of us watched, motionless and silent as the towers came crashing down. I'll never forget that day and the flashes of faces I saw in August '01 on the top floors of the observation level at the World Trade Center.

Ten years later, here I am. I've returned to the City that cast it's spell a decade ago. A different City than the one I first met. Milestones allow the opportunity to reflect and few things cause New Yorkers to pause or even slow down, but this event honors the spirit of the City I love. It's a place where a stranger will grab one end of a stroller and help a mother carry her child up the subway stairs and at the top give a quick glance of appreciation and continue on their way. An elderly woman stumbles to the ground and in moments surrounded by 4 people offering their hand, setting her in a nearby chair, making sure she is okay and then proceeding to their business meeting or workout class or lunch appointment. A businessman asked for directions will be concise but precise and helpful. New York will come to your aid because we're on top of each other. To ignore is to neglect. I'm not so romantic about this place that I miss the harshness, but I try to find what is underneath it. My profession requires I study and soak up human behavior and essence- New York overflows with humanity of every kind. Often called the melting pot of the world, I am still deeply in love with this City and grateful for the opportunity to call it home.