We Americans have many ways in which we show our appreciation. The
most common is probably the simple thank you. Others are tips for good service, a wave when another driver allows
you to cut into traffic or moves over and lets you pass on the two lane highway. The cheer when someone like Randy
Johnson gets another strikeout, when your hometown football team makes the first-down on a third and 16, or a big
red apple for your favorite teacher.
In school we are taught that we should have appreciation for things like history and the arts. For myself, I never
learned to appreciate the Ballet, ancient Egypt or Shakespeare as many do, however, Hemingway, Mr. Bojingles and
the southwest ancients such as the Hohokam stir my imagination and gained my appreciation. So it is that we often
feel appreciation for things which affect us personally and not for things which may be the popular ones.
It was just past dawn on the morning of September 11, 2002 here in Arizona and the first anniversary of
another day of infamy for all Americans. This day was a day of numbers, with the first and foremost being 911.
That number will forever be etched into the memory of two separate but connected groups. Two groups that will have
distinctly differing appreciations for what occurred that day.
The first of those groups contains those who were alive and cognizant somewhere in the world at 8:45 a.m.
EDT (just 1 minute prior to the first plane) on that day and survived past 10:31 a.m. EDT ( just
1 minute past the collapse of the second tower). During that time frame the second plane hit the World Trade
Center, another hit the Pentagon, a fourth was diverted into a field near Shanksville, Pa and hundreds of brave
rescuers rushed into the WTC. It's true that we most often identify survivors as those who were actually in the
incident and lived to tell of it. In this case those who were actually within the immediate vicinity of the WTC
or the Pentagon and escaped. (No one escaped United Flight 93) The real truth is that all of this first
group are survivors. While our lives are forever altered during that 106 minutes, we of group 1 continue
to exist and to function much the same way as we did in the days leading up to that September morning.
The second group are those who are or will be the direct descendants of the 2,801 in NYC, the 184
in DC and the 40 at Shanksville who perished during that same said 106 minutes. This group 2
is distinctly different from group 1 for it contains those alive but too young to actually know what was
happening, and those who were not yet born. The lives of this group were not altered in the same way as it was
for those of group 1 for they had no real knowing of how things were in the time prior to the incident. It is distinctive
for it contains only those who from that day forward will from time to time state that my mother, father, grandmother,
grandfather, and my great-grandparents were among the 3,025. The real truth is that this group will never
know the naiveté that was maintained by those who, prior to 911, believed that our nation was secure
from the kind of terror which had been occurring worldwide to innocent citizens daily and was so vividly shown
on TV.
Later that day many functions, of one sort or the other, memorialized the 911 occurrence. Frank Rich of
the New York Times' anticipated many of these occurrences to be little more than "a maudlin, self-aggrandizing
media orgy". The more immediate reality is that of an untold number attempting to find some way to show their
appreciation. Maybe even deeper is the feeling or need to relive those 106 minutes so that the coming together
we, of group 1, experienced in the days and weeks that followed will once again resurface. That through
these ceremonies, these remembrances, these gatherings, these expressions of both sorrow and respect, "We,
the people, in order to form a more perfect union..." can feel that solidarity, that Mystical Union, without
the need for another dastardly terrorist attack.
While getting dressed that morning like many of you, I watched some of the TV coverage. They replayed old footage
and presented some "never before seen" pictorials. There were interviews with dignitaries from America
and other countries. There were family members, firemen, policemen, servicemen, air traffic controllers and a unending
number of others answering the same questions over and over again. "How were you affected?", "Has
it been difficult for you to adjust?", "Where were you when...?". Enough! Do we really believe that
those we mourn, honor, even despise, who perished during those 106 minutes, did so for us to have another
day of reflective imagery? If so then they surely died in vain. I assure you that given the opportunity, all except
for the 19 hijackers would have chosen to skip what happened and to have gone on with their day. The 3025
did not choose martyrdom, it was thrust upon them. Those who acted heroically that day did not do so with the intent
of creating another day of spectacle. I truly believe that given the opportunity to do so, each and everyone of
them would say to group 1, "Get on with it, show your appreciation by living your lives fully."
That each and every one of them would say to group 2, "You exist because I did. 911 was my destiny,
you are my heritage. Don't waste it, live, love and be happy."
Final Thought
The largest part of my day was spent doing just that. This 11th day of September, 2002 just happened to be the
second day of the Great Southwest Lodging and Restaurant Show at the Phoenix Civic Plaza where ARDA had
a booth to promote our industry and to pursue new memberships, both locally and nationally. The booth was staffed
for the two days by Marybeth Brown & Clark Rowley of the SCR staff, Peter Humbert Assistant VP Western Region
for II, Andrea Elmore the ARDA Director of Membership out of Washington, D.C. and myself. We had the opportunity
to interface with many hospitality professionals, other vendors and many students from Culinary Institutes, College
Hospitality Programs and high school kids just starting their futures.
These high school students were bright and enthusiastic, as if unaware that others were spending the day in solemn
and sober reflection and would have probably frowned on such liveliness. Those students were alive with interest
and interested in everything. Many took our handouts which reflected the economic impact of timesharing in Arizona
and in the USA. If any of the 3025 would have chosen to die on that day one year ago, I am sure that it
would have been for the youth of today, those who were already getting on with it and well past living in the past.
