Telluride Inside… and Out and 9/11/2001

11 Sep Telluride Inside… and Out and 9/11/2001

I didn't know anyone who died in the tragedies of September 11, 2001. Still, the events of that day touched my family and me in some strange ways.

Susan and I had flown from Seattle, where we had been visiting Kimm Viebrock (now known as TIO's Chief Geek), to Newark, NJ where our mission was to help her parents get settled into a new apartment in Hackensack. We arrived the night of September 10. The morning of September 11 was beautiful, and I was enjoying the early sunshine on the east facing terrace on the 9th floor with my father-in-law. Then the phone rang:"Turn on your TV!" Though we couldn't see the Twin Towers behind a high rise across the street, we watched the smoke and eventually the flames as the second airplane hit the tower.

Meanwhile, my first wife Barbara was with her husband (their home is in Bellevue, WA) not far from where the airplane was flown into the Pentagon. And if that coincidence was not strange enough, United 93 flew right over Seven Springs, PA, where Kjerstin Klein's (Kid – and geek– 2) in-laws have a home.

Communication was difficult, but we managed to let Kimm know we all were OK, and she became command central for our extended family.

A few days after the horrible event I was running from the Upper West Side in NYC south toward the scene, observing the poignant notices requesting information on missing loved ones, finally arriving at the barriers barring further passage. There were hundreds of people standing, silent or talking to nearby strangers in hushed tones, seeming to need to absorb the tragedy. I did not witness anger as much as a profound sadness.

All of this contrasts with the anger I see today, with the controversy over the Muslim community center not far from the fallen towers, and the threatened burning of the Koran in Florida. I believe too many are taking the wrong message from 9/11. I think the message that should be a redoubled effort by all of us, privately, through governments, through NGOs, is to erase our differences. We cannot be safe as long as hatred endures.