“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” โ John 1:5
Some moments never leave us. The JFK assassination. The Challenger explosion. 9/11. The COVID pandemic. We remember exactly where we were, because in those moments grief was not ours alone โ we grieved together, what’s often called collective grief.
This 25th anniversary of 9/11 feels especially meaningful to me โ maybe because I’ve spent the years since walking with people through loss, or because I’m older now and more aware of how deeply grief can change us.
One image from that day has stayed with me more than any other โ the brilliant blue sky I tried to capture in the picture I created for this post.
I had arrived at Penn Station that morning around 8:20 and was walking south on 7th Avenue to my office near Madison Square Park, thinking about the marathon training run I hoped to take at lunch.
Soon after reaching my office, a colleague rushed in: “Jack, the World Trade Center has been hit by a plane” and then saw the black smoke rise in the distance. Then the second plane. The Pentagon. Grounded flights. A city in lockdown.
At the time, I led our firm’s Research Departmentโover 400 people, many scattered across the globe. As the towers fell, every other fear gave way to one:
Where were our people? Were they safe? How could we get them home?
By day’s end, we had accounted for everyone.
That evening, after a candlelight service and putting our three young children to bed, I went into my home office. Voicemails from family and lifelong friends wanting to know if I was alive.
And finally, the tears came.
They came for all we had witnessed, for the lives already lost, for families whose worlds had shattered, and for the realization that I was home with my wife and children when so many others would never come home again.
Over the years, many people have asked, “Where was God on September 11th?”
There are no easy answers. But I believe God was thereโin firefighters climbing stairways while others ran down, in first responders and ordinary people who reached toward one another instead of away.
And I heard Him again in every voice on my answering machine saying some version of “Jack, we were worried about you. We love you. Are you okay?”
I still see that presence in the brilliant blue sky before the towers fell, and in the enduring light of the nearly 3,000 souls we lostโmothers and fathers, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, friends and colleagues.
They were more than names or numbers. They were people who loved and were loved. Their light still shines through the families, friendships, and acts of goodness they left behind.
Twenty-five years later, perhaps that is one way we continue to grieve with hope: by refusing to let the darkness have the final word.
#September11 #NeverForget #CollectiveGrief #FindingLight #FaithAndHope #Remembrance
