Twenty-five years ago, I was living in Paris, working at a pioneering digital advertising agency.
Our entire team watched in horror as the first plane hit. We watched on our computers until suddenly, the online media couldn’t process the flow of information. Screens switched to lines of code. We turned to the radio and listened to the tragedy through the day, into the night.
25 years later, now living in the U.S. tears still come when I remember the poignant phone calls, the terrible images, the losses.
I also remember the humanity that followed. People running to help. Giving blood. Feeding strangers. Grieving with strangers.
Since then, there has been a collective commitment to remember, to collect the stories, honor the victims and survivors.
While researching for this post, I came across the National September 11 Memorial & Museum’s stories of the Women of Ground Zero.
Women who were firefighters, police officers, EMS workers, construction workers, volunteers and family-assistance workers. Some lost their lives saving others. Many more became part of the enormous rescue and recovery effort.
https://www.911memorial.org/connect/blog/remembering-women-ground-zero.
Today, I honor them and the many others who have become guardians of memory—keeping the stories of those they lost, those who survived, and those who showed up for others alive.
Connection matters.
Community is something we do.
