Owning September 11

Let's start with a core belief, courtesy of Sir Isaac Newton: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Next a message to what is left of al-Qaeda: No one gets to take a beautiful September day away from us.  We are getting it back.  Do not think for even a split-second that any event – no matter how insanely evil - will keep us down.  That, my enemy, is delusional thinking. Seek therapy.

We own 9/11.  We will turn this day into a celebration about everything that is beautiful about the American spirit. There is much to celebrate. 

We are not a nation of mourners.  We are not a people who allow fear to take residence.  Evil will not have this day. 

We not only bounce back.  We bounce back higher.

Maybe you heard this story, maybe you did not.  This true tale begins on September 10, 2001.

Software Sales Rep Rob Quillen was making his way from Omaha to New York. 

Rob was flying to New York City for a sales meeting.  During the flight, he struck up – with the guy in the seat next to his own - a conversation about NASCAR superstar Jeff Gordon.  Why not?

Actually, this was an obvious topic as Quillen was wearing a NASCAR t-shirt.  The man Rob Quillen was talking to said his son was a huge Jeff Gordon fan.

As Rob Quillen and the man continued to talk, the conversation was sprinkled with facts about the man’s son.  The man was passionate and duly proud of his son. The boy, as it turned out, was recently diagnosed with epilepsy.  The seizures were gut-wrenching. The man was not looking for sympathy, it was just a fact. Just two guys talking – not a lot focus on ‘feelings.’

The man did tell Quillen what a great kid his son was, and how much he missed him.  They were obviously very close.  It was difficult to be away from the kid, the man told Quillen, but his job required that he travel a lot.

The man told Rob Quillen, that earlier that day, as he was packing, he told his son that the next trip was going to be father and son – wherever his son wanted to go.  Without hesitation, his son said “I want to go to a NASCAR race and I want to meet Jeff Gordon.”

Quillen next did a noble thing.  He had two tickets for the inaugural NASCAR race at the Kansas Speedway.  Quillen offered the man – who, other than sharing a row on an airplane, was a complete stranger – the two tickets. ‘Take your son to the race – on me.’ The man humbly accepted the gift on behalf of his son, Matt.

Quillen did not have the tickets on him, so he and the man exchanged business cards. He would ‘next day’ the tickets to his new friend.  The business card revealed that Quillen’s seat mate was Jason Dahl.  Jason Dahl was a pilot for United Airlines.

Quillen asked, “You’re a pilot?”

Captain Jason Dahl explained he was deadheading to New York, as he had to pilot United Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco the next morning.  The morning of September 11, 2001.

United Flight 93 did not make it to San Francisco.  Ziad Jarrah, Ahmed al-Haznawi, Ahmed al-Nami and Saeed al-Ghamdi overtook the plane and crashed it into the beautiful countryside of rural Pennsylvania.

What do you do about that?  What do any of us do about the insanity of 9/11? 

Here is what Rob Quillen did.

Rob Quillen called Matt Dahl.  Rob Quillen got a hold of Jeff Gordon.

Matt Dahl – the son of the suddenly deceased pilot Jason Dahl – filled with grief and battling epilepsy, was not going to miss that NASCAR race in Kansas City.  Not on Rob Quillen’s watch. 

On September 30, 2001, just prior to race time, Jeff Gordon and Matt Dahl hugged, shared a moment.  Gordon went on to win the race and Matt sent a courageous message about strength and perseverance.  

What do you do when a monster strikes?  Rebut the bastard and continue, somehow, some way to live strong.  Reach deep, shed a tear, but never let the devil win.  Like Rob Quillen, like Captain Dahl. Matt Dahl is a hero.

‘Rising out of the ashes’ is usually a metaphor.  It is a popular metaphor.  It is why Easter is such a big hit.

But you cannot beat showing that you have the fortitude to figuratively rise out of ashes any better than actually - literally - rising out of the ashes. 

The picture that accompanies this column is a rendering of 1WTC. 1 World Trade Center.  It is being built right now.

We are rebuilding; we are keeping the name.  Do not even try to take things like this away from us.  This beautiful building, rising out of ‘ground zero’ - 1,776 feet of grace – will be completed in 2013.

The fighter still remains.

This building will stand tall, it will stand proud, and like young Matt Dahl it will send a message. The message will be something we can celebrate every September 11^th.

Life does go on.