The morning of September 11th, 2001 in Manhattan was even more beautiful and stunning than everybody says it was. I know because I was there, along with the millions of others who witnessed the horrific events first hand. I was there on business, and luckily had meetings uptown in the morning and downtown (planned) in the afternoon. What I experienced in New York City on that day, and the rest of that week while I was stranded in Manhattan, transformed my life and changed the trajectory of Homestead. In fact, it's safe to say Homestead wouldn't be here today, at least not in our current state, had September 11th not happened.
I watched the first tower collapse in front of me while we were driving back to our hotel in a taxi, about a mile away from the scene. It was a horrible, but surreal experience: watching all of the strangers mingling and crying together on the street afterward; being a block away from the center where the loved ones were supposed to report to look for missing persons, and seeing their despair and panic first hand; and then being stuck in the hotel for the next four days with nowhere to go, few services available, and a lot of time to watch the national coverage of the scene unfolding not far from where I was.
The fall of 2001 was the depth of the dot com crash, and at Homestead we had just told our 12 million free members that we were going to start charging them for their sites (the whopping price of $29 a year!). What happened to me during those three days changed my decisions about how to steer our struggling company. As I walked the streets of Manhattan, or went on several long runs through the deserted city streets, I noticed that the soul of this most-capitalist-of-towns was the small businesses and little organizations. The hot dog vendors, the newstands, the neighborhood restaurants, the proud florists, the neighborhood homeless centers, the small museums, the bakery on the corner, the guy in the suit in Bryant Park (free wi-fi access) with a laptop on his knee and a cell phone to his ear trying to serve his customers without an office on the day after 9/11. How could they bounce back so quickly--and with such a resilliant spirit--so soon after this monumentous tragedy in their city? If they could do it, I knew that Homestead could do it (far away in sunny California), and I decided we should find a way to tailor our business to help businesses like theirs. With so few resources they managing to compete with global corporations 1000 times their size. If we could put the power of technology and the internet into their businesses, maybe it would level the playing field?
That week I realized that the fabric of our economy--and our society--is not a finely woven cloth of mega corporations like the ones whose neon signs are everywhere in New York (like Starbucks, Gap, Duane Reede, Morgan Stanley, McDonalds). Instead it is a patchwork quilt, where every square is a different size and color and nationality and education level, stitched together by a common belief in free enterprise, hard work, and an intense passion for what they are doing. And most of those patches are small businesses, individual entrepreneurs, or small organizations.
On the plane home I wrote down my thoughts, which I read to the company when I returned, and explained how I felt we could do our small part to respond to these tragic events on the other side of the country. Rebuilding our company, and deciding that we weren't going to be a casualty of the dot com crash and mini-recession that followed 9/11, became an easy decision after that. Of course, we weren't dealing with matters of life and death, unlike so many who were in Manhattan (or Pennsylvania, or Washington D.C.) on that day, five years ago. But somehow it felt good that we could connect the dots, and it gave our company's work a little more meaning.
So as you're hearing all of the tributes and memorial speeches today on the news, and listening to the commentators who say things are worse than they were five years ago, or we haven't learned anything since that terrible day, here's at least one counter argument. It did change us, and we haven't forgotten, and I believe it has and will make us a greater place to work and live.
--jsk
Comments well spoken and well taken.
Posted by: Larry | September 13, 2006 at 07:14 AM
Justin, I wrote this after 911, and thought you might enjoy it. I was not there, but in spirit, I believe we were all there.
Nancy Cronk
What is America?
By Nancy Cronk, Aurora, CO 9/2001
On September 11, 2001, the World Trade Center and the United States Pentagon were hit by American planes hijacked by terrorists. An American plane was crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. Buildings so large they each had their own zip codes were destroyed, and thousands of people were murdered. Headlines around the world read, “Attack on America”.
But was America attacked? What is America?
America is:
Many victims calling their families and friends to say, “No matter what happens to me, I love you."
America is:
Hundreds of fire fighters, police officers, and paramedics arriving within minutes, putting their own lives in jeopardy, to help thousands of victims escape burning buildings.
America is:
While the second Trade Center building began to burn, nearby priests ran to the scene to give last rights to victims in their final moments.
America is:
People running down flight after flight of stairs, and two men stopping to carry a woman in a wheelchair down 68 flights.
America is:
While people were running from the tumbling buildings, shoe merchants throwing out shoes and slippers to barefoot strangers and women wearing high heels so they could run a little faster.
America is:
At the Pentagon, United States servicemen and women protecting their country as flames loomed over their heads.
America is:
In perhaps the most courageous act of democracy ever, passengers aboard United Airlines flight 93 actually voted to try to overthrow their hijackers after hearing that two other planes had hit the World Trade Center. They knew that although they would surely perish, they would save more lives on the ground.
America is:
Millions of Americans watching the news as it unfolded and praying to G-d to help the victims escape quickly and to ask that lives be spared.
America is:
As the buildings crumbled, hundreds of emergency personnel stayed to help out “just one more person”.
America is:
Restaurant owners and New York Citizens bringing water, coffee and food to workers who tirelessly toiled to find survivors. As each left to be replaced by a rested colleague, New Yorkers cheered them and thanked them.
America is:
Within hours, blood banks across the country had lines three or four hours long, and many had to turn people away.
America is:
Millions of homes displaying American flags sending out messages of love and hope to the thousands of victims and their families. Within hours, millions of flags disappeared off store shelves, and many more were backordered.
America is:
Doctors, Nurses, Counselors, and Firefighters arriving from many other neighboring states, leaving their homes and jobs at a moments notice, asking how they can help.
America is:
A young Russian born man meeting an elderly Jewish woman who frantically looked for her husband among the debris. The young man spent the next two days helping her find him, so that they may spend their final days together.
America is:
A young Pakastanian-American NYU college student who, after witnessing it all, lined up to give blood, offered water to relief workers, and prayed to Allah to return peace to his country.
America is:
Jewish families calling their fellow Muslim-American neighbors and asking if they are okay, and if anyone in their family was affected by the tragedy. They offered each other their support in the weeks and months ahead.
America is:
Stranded travelers renting campers, U-Hauls, taxi-cabs and rental cars, asking complete strangers if they wanted rides to other states to be with their loved ones.
America is:
Prayer services, open to the public, which went on in every town, in every city, in every state in the entire nation. Millions of candles were lit in remembrance of the victims. People prayed in churches, synagogues, temples, mosques, and houses of worship in hundreds of faiths, in dozens of languages. Priests stood with Rabbis, Ministers, Reverends, Imams, Christian Science Readers, and other spiritual leaders, praying together to the same G-d. Together they prayed for all Americans, and for peace in the world.
America is:
Catholic and Protestant Irish-Americans working together on bake sales, car washes and pancake breakfasts to raise money for the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.
America is:
Millions of school children, in thousands of cities, writing cards and drawing pictures to be sent to New York and Washington, D.C.
America is:
Construction workers all over the country painting American flags on building roofs so that pilots flying overhead know they are valued and appreciated.
America is:
Politicians who previously battled their political opponents with great fervor, hugging them, crying with them, and sitting with them at memorial services.
America is:
Investors all over the world who said, “As a sign of my support for America, I will believe in the strength of the United States and its ability to recover. I will invest in the American spirit”.
America is:
Teachers in thousands of schools, wiping tears, calming fears, and reminding their students that while the war is on terrorism, the enemy is hate.
America is:
Millions of people, from dozens of faiths, and hundreds of homelands, standing together, unwilling to give up on their ideals of peace, justice and brotherhood.
Did terrorists attack America? They attacked our buildings, they crashed our planes, and they killed many of our brothers and sisters. But did they attack America? No -- they cannot. As long as there are people who care about each other, and who believe in brotherhood, regardless of their backgrounds, we will always have America.
Posted by: Nancy J. Cronk | September 26, 2006 at 08:05 PM