Reflections on 9/11

Thursday is the anniversary of September 11, 2001. On that day almost 3000 of our fellow citizens lost their lives in a sudden and unexpected act of terror.

In some ways time has left us numb to the profound feelings of horror and loss we felt that day. We humans have an amazing ability to bounce back from tragedy. We mourn and then we go about our business with new vigor. But we also remember, and in remembering we honor the good and innocent people we lost that sunny Tuesday morning seven years ago.

We all remember where we were that morning when we heard the news.

The whole world remembers. I was on a business trip to Ohio that day. The night before I had addressed the town council of Aurora Falls, a suburb of Cleveland. Aurora Falls had just agreed to purchase gas from MXenergy on behalf of its citizens. I was going into a meeting that morning with the town's consultants when I heard a radio report about the first plane. Anybody who lives in New York City thinks about planes crashing into tall buildings all the time; after all, it happened in the 30s when a small plane crashed into the Empire State Building in the fog. This was different.

Our meeting started at 9. I suspected this was not an accident and had trouble concentrating. I asked if we could recess so I could check the news.

I found a television in the lobby and turned it on to pictures of a strange sight: Smoke and only one tower which was also smoking. As I asked out loud where the other tower was the announcer said the unthinkable. Moments later the second tower fell as well. There was silence in the room as each of us heard our own inner voices in silent prayer.

Like many of us I knew people in those buildings. I had been in them the week before. In one was an energy futures broker who taught me so much about trading and managing risk. Hardly a day goes by that I don't remember something he told me. In the other building were bankers and government workers. Many people I met in the next few weeks had miraculously escaped. Many others had not.

As I drove home from Cleveland that day I stopped at truck stops along the way. Outside small towns in central Pennsylvania I found people from all walks of life gathered in front of televisions, watching the unfolding news in silence. Out of a shared sense of loss there seemed to be a sense of cameraderie and friendship, of people supporting each other in their grief, helping each other cope. In the coming days there would also be a tangible feeling of common purpose, of unity in the face of adversity, of pride in the courage and sacrifices shown by the firefighters and by many of the victims themselves. Most of all there would be, for a few months at least, an international sense of solidarity and affection for those who had suffered, for our shattered era of peace, and for the great city itself that had lost forever two of its landmark buildings.

You may not know it but that morning we at MXenergy immediately suspended marketing and did not resume until several days later. In the meantime we asked our hardworking folks in Customer Care to spend time with their customers, letting them talk about their feelings and reactions to the events. Everybody felt the need for a helping hand in those days and we wanted to do our part.

Today, MXenergy observed a moment of silence at 8:46 EST to commemorate the events of that morning and the meaning that September 11 has come to symbolize. We are a busy company but not too busy to pause, reflect, and remember our common humanity.