18 years

The Hebrew language traditionally used letters to represent numbers.  The letters used to represent the number "18" also spell the word "chai"  (the "ch" is pronounced with the same gutteral sound as in the German word "ach"), which translates to "life".  It is traditional to think of 18 as a lucky number, e.g., monetary gifts are usually given in multiples of 18. Many Jews wear pendants with the symbol  for chai.

Our whole world changed 18 years ago today.  

18 years ago an ordinary Tuesday turned into a nightmare, a day of horrors, a day that showed our strength to unite in the face of adversity.

9/11 happened to all of us, in NYC and California and everywhere in between.  But someone standing on the corner of Vesey Street and Church Street experienced 9/11 in a very different way than someone watching the events on TV.  And I will be forever grateful that I had an "on the outside looking in" experience, safe in my Long Island office that day, watching the streets that were oh-so-familiar turn into a war zone.

I've written about 9/11 frequently in the 10+  years I've kept this blog, about my experiences on that day and the aftermath, about my visits to the 9/11 museum and various memorials in this region.    Like Pearl Harbor or the Kennedy assassination, those of us who were alive on September 11, 2001 will continue to share our stories -- where we were, what we felt, how it affected our lives.

I work in lower Manhattan, a community that was devastated by the terrorist attacks on 9/11, a community that was pounded by Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

It is a community that is much changed since September 11, 2001.  And yet it is a community that is alive and vibrant, a symbol of our perseverance and our triumph over adversity.

The Koenig Sphere.  It sat on the plaza between the Twin Towers of the old World Trade Center. Battered and dented, it somehow survived.

That's One World Trade Center.  Not just an office tower, it is a symbol, proof that we will not be defeated, that life will triumph over death and destruction.

Lower Manhattan is alive and well.

On this 18th anniversary, as we recognize our losses and the sacrifices of the heroes of that day, let us also acknowledge that life goes on.  And let us choose life....