The Most Unenviable 9/11 Casualty
On the ground level of the Pentagon there is a small chapel which stands at the very site where American Airlines Flight 77 made impact with the building. It is a quiet, serene place I visited shortly after its opening a few years back. Just outside the chapel itself is a memorial area with information on the victims who perished that day. One of them, a gentleman whose name escapes me, is the only man listed as a fallen casualty at both the Pentagon and the World Trade Center.
An inscription tells his story. I remember reading he was a government civilian. He wasn't at the Pentagon that day; he was away on business. Had he been there he would have died in the attack as his office was one floor up from the chapel, in the exact spot where the giant jet-engine of Flight 77 would have torn into the building. Sadly and ever so tragically, the gentleman didn't escape the terrifying events that day. When flight 77 ripped through his office in the Pentagon, the gentleman had already become a victim to the terrorist attacks. Exactly 35 minutes earlier, the plane he boarded to go from Boston to Los Angeles on his business trip, United Airlines Flight 175 had crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. His name is inscribed in both locations as a victim to the terrorist attacks.
As I read the story, I wondered whether this was "fate". I struggled to understand whether destiny had its hands around us all and felt as helpless and hopeless as I did that day watching the impossible happen on live television with the rest of the world.
Yet as I searched for some glimmer of hope in that moment of sadness, I remembered a gentleman whose name I do recall, a lifelong friend named Gene Gunderson. Gene had a meeting that day at the Pentagon. He fell behind at his office across town and decided it was too late to go. The office his meeting took place was destroyed and some of the people he was to meet were casualties as well. Gene survived that day. Call it fate, call it a random act, call it whatever you will. All I know is my friend survived.
If there is one lesson to be learned from 9/11 it is this, you do not know how many days, hours, heartbeats you have left in you nor do you know how many those you love have left in them. We cannot stop life from happening, the good or the bad; what we can do is remember to be appreciative for the moments we do have and treasure them as they happen. What we should do, is not miss the "right now" to tell those we love, just how much we love and appreciate them.
We can only remember the past, we have no ability to control the future, all we really have any power over is this very moment, the right now. If we truly live in this moment; treasure and make the most of it, then whatever tomorrow brings we will have the solace of knowing we lived and loved, and that is what ultimately makes life worth living, however long we have.
An inscription tells his story. I remember reading he was a government civilian. He wasn't at the Pentagon that day; he was away on business. Had he been there he would have died in the attack as his office was one floor up from the chapel, in the exact spot where the giant jet-engine of Flight 77 would have torn into the building. Sadly and ever so tragically, the gentleman didn't escape the terrifying events that day. When flight 77 ripped through his office in the Pentagon, the gentleman had already become a victim to the terrorist attacks. Exactly 35 minutes earlier, the plane he boarded to go from Boston to Los Angeles on his business trip, United Airlines Flight 175 had crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. His name is inscribed in both locations as a victim to the terrorist attacks.
As I read the story, I wondered whether this was "fate". I struggled to understand whether destiny had its hands around us all and felt as helpless and hopeless as I did that day watching the impossible happen on live television with the rest of the world.
Yet as I searched for some glimmer of hope in that moment of sadness, I remembered a gentleman whose name I do recall, a lifelong friend named Gene Gunderson. Gene had a meeting that day at the Pentagon. He fell behind at his office across town and decided it was too late to go. The office his meeting took place was destroyed and some of the people he was to meet were casualties as well. Gene survived that day. Call it fate, call it a random act, call it whatever you will. All I know is my friend survived.
If there is one lesson to be learned from 9/11 it is this, you do not know how many days, hours, heartbeats you have left in you nor do you know how many those you love have left in them. We cannot stop life from happening, the good or the bad; what we can do is remember to be appreciative for the moments we do have and treasure them as they happen. What we should do, is not miss the "right now" to tell those we love, just how much we love and appreciate them.
We can only remember the past, we have no ability to control the future, all we really have any power over is this very moment, the right now. If we truly live in this moment; treasure and make the most of it, then whatever tomorrow brings we will have the solace of knowing we lived and loved, and that is what ultimately makes life worth living, however long we have.
WOW - Jose, this is probably one of the most powerful essays you've written.
ReplyDeleteI can't understand either if Fate can be that cruel or timely. All I know is your last paragraph is the answer. It's not our job to know when it's our time to go.
All I know is, none of the victims of 9/11 deserved to die the way the did. No one does.