Twenty-five years ago, on September 11, 2001, I started my day like so many Americans did.
I got up. I got my children ready for school. I prayed. I glanced at the TV on my way out of the house. Stopped and had a conversation with my husband. And headed to work.
Before long, it became clear that this would be a day unlike any other in our nation’s history.
I was driving to work in San Francisco when my husband called me.
“Where are you?”
I told him I was on the Bay bridge.
He said, “I think there’s a plane headed to San Francisco.”
Two of our children were six and nine years old. They heard him and started crying.
I can still feel that moment.
America was under attack. My babies were afraid. My husband was concerned about me. And I was on a bridge, headed toward a high-rise building in San Francisco. 140 New Montgomery Street.
Before I left home that morning, I prayed.
And I told my husband, “I have to go to work. Leaders show up.”
I knew that if our employees had come into the building, somebody needed to be there to tell them to go home. Somebody needed to be present. Somebody needed to lead.
At the same time, I told my husband, “Take the kids to school.”
Why?
Because in the midst of something completely abnormal, I wanted them to have as normal a day as they possibly could.
That morning, I decided that I was going to be Mom. Business leader. Prayer warrior. And Auntie. Yes, Auntie!
Because September 11 was my nephew Cameron’s 18th birthday.
He was a freshman at New Mexico State University, and that morning I called to wish him a happy 18th birthday.
Imagine turning 18 on September 11, 2001.
Twenty-five years later, I look back on that day with three reflections:
CALM. CARE. CALLING.
First, CALM.
One image from that day has always stayed with me: President George W. Bush sitting in that classroom after being told that America was under attack.
He continued sitting with those children for those next few moments. He didn’t jump up and create panic in that classroom. He stayed composed.
Whatever we may think about politics, there was a leadership lesson in that moment:
People take their cues from leaders.
When the world is shaking, somebody has to be steady.
Leadership isn’t pretending there isn’t a crisis.
Leadership is having the presence of mind not to add chaos to the crisis.
Second, CARE.
September 11 taught me that when so much is outside of our control, we have to take care of what is within our control.
I couldn’t stop what was happening to our country.
But I could pray.
I could make sure my children were cared for.
I could show up for my employees.
I could call my nephew.
I could love the people God had placed in my care.
Sometimes leadership isn’t about making the big decision that changes the world.
Sometimes leadership is simply asking:
Who needs me right now? And then showing up.
Finally, CALLING.
That 18-year-old freshman I called on September 11 couldn’t shake what happened that day.
Something stirred in him.
A desire to protect.
A desire to serve.
A calling
And now, 25 years later, that young man has just been promoted to sergeant in the San Francisco Police Department.
Think about that.
On his 18th birthday, he watched his country come under attack.
On his 43rd birthday, he is helping protect the people of San Francisco.
September 11 will forever be a day of unimaginable loss.
We remember the lives taken. We honor the families whose lives changed forever.
And we remain grateful for the firefighters, police officers, first responders, service members, and ordinary citizens who ran toward danger when everything inside of them could have told them to run away.
And 25 years later, I also remember what that day taught me.
Decide who you are going to be when the unimaginable happens.
Stay calm when others need your steadiness.
Care for the people God has put in your path.
And answer the calling to serve when it comes.
9/11 also taught me that we may not get to choose the crisis, but we always get to choose our response.
May God bless those we lost and their families.
May God bless those who serve. And may God continue to bless the United States of America.
Cynt