Leadership Essays
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Alisha RingPresident, Austin Technology CouncilLeadership Austin Affiliation: 2008 Essential Class Member |
"This I Believe"
I believe that it’s important to tell your story. On September 11, 2001, I woke up in my 350-foot studio apartment in New York City on 14 & 7th planning to head to work, a block away from the Twin Towers. I wore a pumpkin-colored cashmere sweater my mother sent from home, a denim skirt, and a pair of insanely high heels…the perfect fall outfit for NYC. I walked my normal route to the subway: chatted with my doorman, greeted my dry cleaner, and grabbed coffee from my deli guy who always had it ready and waiting, light and sweet. The sky was bright blue and the air had a snap to it as I rounded the corner to grab the subway to work.
I nabbed a seat on the subway, and started reading the book, “The Art of Relaxation,” when after about 10 minutes the subway attendant began shouting over the static radio about an emergency situation. As a typical New Yorker, I raised the volume on my MP3 player and continued riding without interruption until the train stopped with a series of jerky halts and I caught the gentleman across from me give a panicked look to those of us around him. Something was wrong: I turned the volume off and strained my ears to hear what the attendant was saying. For 20 minutes, we sat in silence without knowing what was going on above us.
Finally, we began moving and eventually the doors opened at the Cortlandt station, a block south of the towers, where we unloaded from the cars. When we emerged from the underground tunnels we walked into a scene from a movie. People were running, screaming, crying; I was scared but quite honestly had no idea what was going on around us. I grabbed a man who was wearing a navy blue suit running past me and asked if he knew what had happened. He stopped, narrowed his gaze at me, and in a moment of clarity pointed up where I followed his fingers to the scene above us; he simply said, “Look.” Together we watched the second plane strike the towers. I later found out I was riding the subway train directly under the towers when the first plane hit.
In the days that followed, I experienced tragedy, saw fear, watched heroes emerge, and saw a reality which I believed was not possible in the era in which we live today. For months our offices were shut down, my street was peppered with tanks and armed guards, and bomb threats became standard operation. I didn’t sleep for months, and I never told my story.
I didn’t leave New York, I stayed. I worked to help rebuild with the Red Cross, donated blood and stood beside my neighbors and colleagues who lost loved ones. I also saw a city come together in the months following September 11th.
I believe that in order for our future generations to know where we came from, our experiences and stories must be told so we will forever remember and never forget. We live in a world where the forces that seek to divide us are strong. To overcome them, we must do more than simply stand next to one another in silence.