By Giadha Aguirre De Carcer
As the twentieth anniversary of the September 11 attacks draws near, some of my most vivid memories have been as prevalent in my mind as ever. These events changed our country and our world. Whether you watched the horror unfold on live TV or from Manhattan as I did, what happened was worse than anything any of us had ever seen. Then we saw what New Yorkers and Americans are really made of …
So many firefighters and other first responders raced to put their lives on the line to save the lives of strangers. Joseph Pfeifer was the first FDNY Chief to respond to the World Trade Center that day. He has a new book out, “Ordinary Heroes: A Memoir of 9/11,” that I look forward to reading and has been making the rounds on TV this week, including an appearance on TODAY. He lost his brother responding to the attacks, also a firefighter, and many others. He even had to take the extraordinary step of ordering firefighters to evacuate when many civilians remained in harm’s way – a worst nightmare type of scenario for a fire chief. Still, they saved 20,000 lives that day.
Chief Pfeifer was working with a documentary film crew who were coincidentally following firefighters in NYC that day when, at 8:46 a.m., Flight 11 hit the North Tower. At that very time, I was stuck on the subway, not sure why it had stopped moving, unaware of what was happening and worried about being late to a meeting in the North Tower. Only when I surfaced did I begin to realize what happened, just in time to witness Flight 175 crashing into the South Tower at 9:03.
I had recently begun my career as an Associate in Chase Manhattan’s Bank Management Training Program, right before it acquired JPMorgan, working out of their Metrotech Center in Brooklyn, but that day my mentor and head of Chase’s Incubator Division, Nick John, had invited me to join the Risk Waters Financial Technology Congress being held at Windows on The World on the 108th floor of Tower One (the North Tower) for good work on the project being discussed. He lost his life that day. Nick was a great life partner and friend to those he loved. To me, he was a mentor, a strong advocate and a kind person. The last time I saw him, he lent me his umbrella as I left the office on a rainy September 10. For some reason, I carried that umbrella everywhere with me for a week. It felt like the right thing to do; I very much wanted to return it to him.
The colleagues I lost that day represent just a handful of the 2,977 victims, 412 emergency workers and 343 firefighters who lost their lives that day. Even more people died of related illnesses after the initial attack. Today, the FDNY counts 65 “legacy” employees among its ranks; these are sons and daughters of first responders killed in the terror attacks. I will never forget the colleagues I lost, the many civilians that died while I was spared or the many first responders that made the ultimate sacrifice that day.
Reevaluating in the face of tragedy
The attacks led many people to change course to make a difference or do something more meaningful with their lives. My decisions pale in comparison to many of the heroes that laid down their lives to respond to these heinous acts, like Patrick Tillman Jr., who abandoned a successful professional football career in the NFL to enlist in the U.S. army in May 2002. He made the ultimate sacrifice just two years later.
Still, like many Americans, I felt personally terrorized, and I wanted to realign my own life to do something that felt more significant. Dollar signs and long-term earning potential had led me to the banking industry, but this instantly meant far less to me. The events of September 11 put my life in front of a backdrop that made continuing my current path seem impossible. I did not feel the call to enlist like Mr. Tillman, but I wanted to somehow put my talents to work in the fight. Having already earned my bachelor’s degree in international relations and trade from the University of Pennsylvania, these tragic events led me to take stock and follow my passion. I earned a master’s degree in international security from Georgetown University, and I did join the fight, collecting intelligence and reporting for a top U.S. agency.
Information sharing could have helped
Only while studying and working in international security and looking back on the attacks did I begin to better grasp the now-well-documented communication breakdowns that preceded 9/11. The terrorists behind these attacks had been detected. Plenty of warning signs preceded the attacks. One of the hijacking pilots, for example, who trained at flight schools in Oklahoma and Minnesota in 2001 had been put on a watch list of suspected terrorists by French intelligence two years earlier. Plenty of U.S. organizations also failed to communicate effectively amongst themselves. Had the dots been connected, it is possible the attacks could have been thwarted.
After a stint working for U.S. intelligence, I later applied my passion for transparency to technology, entrepreneurship and the business world. The total lack of transparency in cannabis in 2014 was, of course, too much for me to resist, and I set out to bring transparency to cannabis at New Frontier Data. The rest is history, but if it were not for the sacrifices of so many on and after September 11, 2001, I may have never felt inspired enough to pursue my true passion and change my own trajectory.
Thank you to the many fallen heroes. Thank you to my mentor and colleagues. Thank you to my fellow New Yorkers and neighbors.
Please join me in never forgetting and supporting some of the many great charities serving our brave first responders!
