Dr. Rob: I Will Always Remember

• I will always remember September 11, 2001.
• I will always remember receiving the call from my wife that morning, saying that a plane had hit the towers.
• I will always remember driving home, trying to grasp the enormity of the tragedy.
• I will always remember the anguish as worried about our son, Adam, who was a reporter for Reuters in Times Square and often reported from the Trade Center.
• I will always remember the relief when we finally heard from him at 2 PM that day.
• I will always remember receiving a call that night from my coaching clients at Reuters, asking for my advice.
• I will always remember driving across the country and arriving in New York City on a Sunday.
• I will always remember my first sight of the city: Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane, giving a free performance of their play, “The Producers” in the middle of the 44th St.
• I will always remember hugging Adam.
• I will never forget the posters which lined the windows and street poles, filled with photos of people searching for their loved ones, who they thought were missing in hospitals, but, in fact, some had perished in the collapse of the towers.
• I will always remember talking to the survivors, many of whom, but for fortune, could’ve been the ones attending a conference at the Windows on the World that morning at the top of the World Trade Center.
• I will never forget talking to the families who had lost children in the towers.
• I will always remember the Reuters town hall meeting several days after the disaster, where, for the first time in several days, all of the staff gathered.
• I will always remember the CEO of Reuters of America, Phil Lynch, showing this photo, of Father Mychal Judge, the Franciscan Friar and Chaplin to the New York City Fire Department.  I will never forget Phil Lynch explaining that this photo had been taken by Shannon Stapleton, a brave Reuters photographer who snapped it only minutes after the plane had struck the first World Trade Center.
• I will always remember the hundreds of firefighters and policemen who perished, trying to save the lives of others.
• I will always remember that, while over 3,000 people were killed that day, over 20,000 people were saved that day by those brave police and firemen in New York City.
• Let us never forget to tell our stories of bravery and courage in the face of adversity.
• Let us all never forget how lucky we are to be alive today.

A mortally injured Father Mychal Judge is carried out of the World Trade Center by first responders, including Bill Cosgrove (in white shirt). Cosgrove says, “everybody you see in that picture was saved” from the North Tower’s collapse, moments later.
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