Artists Registry

The day that changed everything began for me at 5:50 a.m. Pacific time. I woke up and turned on the television to watch some news. This was early Tuesday morning, September 11th, 2001. My local news station had just interrupted their regular broadcast and switched over to the network, so right away I knew something important had happened. An airliner had crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center in New York. While the commentators discussed how this could have happened, I noticed an aircraft come from the right side of the screen. It appeared to be going behind the towers of the Trade Center. In the split-second it took to realize the plane should have already come out from behind the towers, the fireball burst out the side of the tower instead. It was now undeniable. This was no accident. A bit later, I returned to the television after getting coffee to see only smoke; the kind of smoke you see when a building is imploded to make way for new construction. I knew then a tower had collapsed. While the journalists were commenting, the camera showed the top of the remaining tower. For some reason, it appeared that the camera had started to pan up. Then, a horrible realization struck. The camera was not going up; the building was going down. Within the span of minutes, the World Trade Center was no more and lower Manhattan was totally obscured by smoke. I was in total shock. At the time, I knew I had just witnessed the deaths of thousands of people on live TV. Although I live nearly 3,000 miles away, it might has well have happened down the street. The impact was the same to me. Then, the news of the crash at the Pentagon came followed by the crash of the aircraft in Pennsylvania. I thought to myself that this must be the ‘Pearl Harbor’ of my generation. And, I also realized my country was probably at war, but, with whom? Many questions were answered in the six months between then and when I was able to make it to New York: we learned who did this; we saw the best in our nation’s character from our 'First Responders' and those who supported them at Ground Zero; we saw our nation come together with a wave of unity and patriotism that was previously unimaginable; We also saw the character of the people of New York which is what made me fall in love with the city and its people. Once I finally arrived in New York, I had to see it for myself. I went to Ground Zero. By this time, the 'pile' was gone and there was a large pit where the Towers had been. I obtained a ticket to the viewing platform and walked around St. Paul's chapel looking at the spontaneous memorials that had been placed there since September 11th. Some of the images in my portfolio are from that day. Two things were particularly moving when I was on the platform looking down into the 'pit.' The first was the immense area that was leveled. That did not translate on television or in photographs. The area was the equivalent of about 9 city blocks. The second thing was the eerie feeling. There I was in lower Manhattan and it was quiet and calm. It was like you could feel the spirits of those lost. I will never forget that feeling. Even in the worst of times, there is always potential to draw good from bad events. Although it's on a grand scale, September 11th was no different. In the days and months after, you saw the best in people. People from all across America left their jobs and homes to come help any way they could. Some brought food and served the Ground Zero workers. Others brought whatever was needed. People realized how fragile life could be and were nice to each other. There are many lessons to take from that horrible day. For me, a life-changing lesson from our response was that we cannot always control what happens to us in life. But, we can control how we respond to it. Anything can happen to us as a nation, or individually, on any given day; but what makes or breaks us is how we react to it. Thinking back to those days -- now with ten years of hindsight -- is still a very bittersweet thing. In addition to remembering the tragedy of that day and those lost, I am so encouraged by the potential for good that we, as a people, had then and still have. My wish is that in the future, it should not take a national tragedy to bring out the best in us. There's absolutely no reason we can't behave that way everyday. Maybe, that's our best lesson.