• by Cory Treffiletti , Featured Contributor, September 11, 2002

The events of September 11, 2001 will remain forever etched in my mind and the passage of time will never dim the emotions released as a result of the horrors of that day.

I struggled this past week as to whether I should leave this space blank in honor of those that lost their lives or if I should share a personal reflection that came from that fateful morning. September 11th changed my perspective forever, and rather than discuss advertising I decided the most appropriate way for me to properly honor those lives would be to share a thought.

When I awoke that morning to the constant chime of phone calls and began to understand what was happening in the world, I was confused. I ran to work because that was the most immediate thing I could think to do. I was frightened for my friends and family who lived in New York and unable to comprehend the scope of what was happening. I had moved from New York only two years earlier and relocated to California, but that morning my heart and mind were ripped immediately to my home as thoughts of my life and friends who were still there came rushing into my head. As the story unfolded and the images of the day began to crystallize before my eyes, my emotions ran wild and I experienced feelings that I never want to experience again. Hopelessness, fear, and loss unlike any other time in my life.

Over the following days and weeks, I searched for some logic in what had happened. I came to understand that this was a senseless act of violence. That there was no possible explanation that would ever be clear to me. The idea that a group of people could prepare one morning and execute a plan to murder thousands of innocent people will never be something I can comprehend. That so much hate could build up in a person as to legitimize that sort of a decision is unfathomable to me. The only thing I could do was to try to find a way to bring balance back into my life and into my immediate world.

Whenever I experience a sense of loss, I try to find some way to balance those painful emotions and take something positive away from the experience. I try to learn something that will make me a stronger person, and I think that many people do this as well. Such a tremendous loss as that of the loss of our innocence as a country and the loss of a portion of our freedoms and safety required a deeper realization and a stronger resolve. I needed to drastically revisit some key points in my life.

What I came to was that no day should be undervalued. That each day is filled with experiences and interactions with others that are truly valuable. The interactions we take for granted -- the check out clerk at the grocery store or the chance encounter on the street while waiting for the light to change -- these each have become extremely important. I could now see that each of these experiences are final and could be the last time I ever interacted with that person. If this was the case, then they should walk away having enjoyed it somehow, or received something of value from the experience. Taken something positive away with them, whether it is a useful piece of information or as something as simple as a smile, that experience should be a positive one. In this way, I would be honoring the people whom I would never meet who had lost these same opportunities as a result of someone else’s hate and fear. I would continue to add value to the people and places around me and improve my little corner of the world in some small way. I would try never to take the little things for granted since so many other people would never be able to enjoy those tiny experiences again.

This whole week there have been stories reflecting on what happened one year ago. Those images have been re-run numerous times over the last couple of weeks on television and I still cannot view the images without a lump surfacing in my throat or a knot rising from the pit of my stomach that makes me feel powerless and alone. Last week I tried to read the newspaper that I have saved from September 12, and I still cannot get past the first page.

Time will not dim the emotions that I experience from viewing those images, but I hope that time will also not dim the resolve that I have achieved. The resolve to treat each day, and each interaction with other people with respect, care and the attention they deserve. In this way I hope to continue to honor those people who lost their lives on September 11, 2001 and I hope that you will, as well.