Today, I reflect on who I was on September 11, 2001 – a much younger man, really still a boy. I was 15 years old, sitting in school in New York when that tragic day unfolded.
It was the day everything changed.
It was also a day when New York learned, in the most painful way imaginable, what it meant to put our divisions aside, work together, and stand united as one. New York is home to get the #$%& out the way!
Growing up, I knew division very well.
My childhood was shaped by poverty, instability, trauma, and the constant drinking and drug use of my parents. Eventually, the conditions in my home became severe enough that I was removed from my parents’ custody and raised by the State of New York.
As a young man, I was constantly getting into fights and finding myself in trouble. Looking back now, I understand that much of that anger was an outward expression of the strife, instability, and discontent I was experiencing inside my own home.
Conflict was familiar to me.
Division was familiar to me.
Peace and unity were not.
Then September 11 happened.
In the middle of one of the darkest days our country had ever experienced, I saw something that was very different from the world I had known.
I saw New Yorkers come together.
I saw Americans come together.
Neighbors helped neighbors. Strangers helped strangers. First responders ran toward danger while others fled from it. People who may have disagreed about almost everything the day before suddenly recognized something greater than their differences.
We needed one another.
For a 15-year-old boy who had grown up surrounded by conflict, that realization left a lasting impression on me.
September 11 taught me that division does not have to define us.
It taught me that people are capable of laying aside their differences and working together when something greater than themselves is at stake. It showed me the strength that exists in collaboration, service, sacrifice, and unity.
Twenty-five years later, I can see how deeply those lessons became woven into the person I eventually chose to become.
Today, much of my life is dedicated to service.
Through EcoServants®, I have had the privilege of working alongside people from many different backgrounds who come together around a shared purpose: serving our communities and our planet.
As a pastor with the Assembly of Eden, I continue that same work in another way – trying to bring people together, encourage service to one another, and remind people that our common humanity is greater than the divisions that so often separate us.
The troubled boy who once knew mostly conflict grew into a man who has spent much of his life trying to build collaboration.
I do not believe that journey happened by accident.
The pain of my childhood taught me what division can do.
September 11 showed me what unity can do.
And the years since have taught me that service is one of the most powerful ways we can turn that lesson into action.
Today, I remember the lives that were lost on September 11, 2001. I honor the first responders, the families, the survivors, and everyone whose life was forever changed.
But I also remember what happened afterward.
For a moment, we remembered that we belonged to one another.
My hope, twenty-five years later, is that we do not need another tragedy to remember it again.
May we choose collaboration before crisis.
May we choose service before selfishness.
May we choose compassion over division.
And may we never forget September 11, 2001.