(Eight years ago at this very hour I composed the below email and sent it out to the 400,000 people on my newsletter email list. I thought it was appropriate to share it again for the first time since that night and some of the responses I got back from my friends.)
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I cannot contain the immense sadness and emotion, which has overcome me today and I must take a moment to write all of you tonight.
As the radio report came over the airwaves into my truck this morning from WCBS in New York City I pulled to the side of the road in Connecticut in disbelief and began making phone calls.
The sickness in my stomach and aching in my chest have not left me nearly 13 hours into this unspeakable disaster. Perhaps it is difficult to comprehend the sight of a jumbo aircraft slamming into the building in which I used to sit on the 105th floor. My favorite bar in the world was on the 107th floor of the other tower. The hotel where I spend nearly 60 nights per year is barely 100 feet across the street and is destroyed. Many of you have attended my seminars only a block away from Seven World Trade Center which I watched collapse on live television not long after dinner.
My friends and colleagues which occupy the immediate area which has been destroyed haunt every thought I’ve had today. So much of the Wall Street community is headquartered in, or immediately adjacent to the World Trade Center.
I saved my own tears until after I had tucked my three-year-old daughter safely into bed and thanked God for opportunity to do that. My prayers and thoughts now lie with the people and families whose lives were ended, or will never be the same because of today.
The world changed today and will never be the same. America’s innocence was lost and I already mourn it.
God bless all the victims of today and my heart remains in my adopted neighborhood, which will never, ever be the same.
Mike
- God Bless You Mike
- Hello Mike
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.I enjoy reading your newsletter.We cannot afford to over-evaluate disasters like this
that defy sanity and speak of the decaying of the human
spirit.Regards,
Rubik
- Mike,Our thoughts go out to you and all your friends who have made these
sacrifices.Today America has grown stronger through endurance.The bigger shocks lie ahead I fear as we discover who is really
behind all this evil.DW.
- Thank you for your kind and sensitive words. No need to respond. Thank you
for your prayers and efforts to make a difference in the world.
Jeff
- Numbness describes my feeling all yesterday and this morning. I watched the
second plane hit the window I had looked out of for four years. How can this
happen? How can one group of human beings deliberately do this to another
group. History continually repeats itself. Will we ever learn?Ellen
- My heart and soul is with you, God Bless…. roaryes
- My thoughts and prayers are with you, Mike. Thanks for sharing your
very personal thoughts…..
- I and my colleagues are also overcome with sadness about the tragic and horrific
events of yesterday. So we share your grief.God Bless - Mike – I have admired you since the first seminar that I took with your
company – you are a class act. My prayers are with you, your family,
friends and business associates.
- Mike,May God bless you and your family in ways we may not even dream of yet.Tom
- May our gracious God give you peace beyond all human comprehension at this
time of grief and may He use this dark cloud of disaster and turn the
intended evil for good and heal our land.
- My prayers are with you as well.Because of your class on derivatives I had the chance to go to NY & I did visit your favorite bar from your recommendations. I didn’t realize until
now how lucky I was that I had been there, that I saw the Towers stand tall
above NY. To realize that they no longer exist is heartbreaking. To think
of the numerous lives lost is unbearable.I thank AFS for the opportunity that is no more.May God Bless Us All
- Mike
Beautifully said. It was horrible watching the towers burn from the hills of NJ. and the fear and anxiety that stretched among our coworkers. The world has changed and whats to come may even be more difficult than yesterday. Lets pray that a better world will evolve.
Keep those newletters coming. I look forward to your insight more than any other magazine/journal I receive.
Thanks to you and your values
- Hang in there Mike, the world is indeed a different place today. Please
accept my sincerest condolences.
- As a quiet subscriber who looks forward to each monthly newsletter and as
someone who looks forward to attending one of your sessions some day and meeting
you-
I extend my sincere condolences to you and yours for your loss.
- Mike, though I can’t imagine the grief that you must be experiencing now,
please take care of yourself as you work through this. While we watched the
news yesterday, many of us expressed that we had taken your classes and were
thinking of you and how this must be affecting you. We all care about you.
So, I reiterate, please take care as you work through this.Sincerely,Christine……
- Mike,
I’m not on your email list, although I’ve had the privilege to attend a
number of your seminars over the years. A co-worker forwarded your message
to me. I needed to respond ….. to let you know your thoughts and words
touched me deeply. They even comforted me in a way. Thank you for putting
your thoughts to words and for sharing them with us as we try to assimilate
all that is happening.God Bless. - Mike
I am so very sorry. Your e-mail touched me deeply. I am in California, but we still felt incredible sadness watching all those innocent people loose their lives. We have just found out that one of our members and past-president’s had a son on the plane that slammed into the Pentagon. It is horrific.
- Thank you for your note. It is indeed a sad day. I was 11 years old in 1941
and I remember December 7th very well. My great Grandfather is buried in
Arliington with the Medal of Honor which he recieved for his action at
Gettysburg. Our Nation has strength which comes to the front in times like
this and we will perservere.We should pray together. - Mike,Your comments summarize everyone’s thoughts. I can only say, “amen.”
- Hello,What an awful today in New York. Thank God you’re ok. I haven’t heard
about any friends from the Port Authority who may not have got out. I’ve
heard from some friends and they are ok. I hope all your friends and
associates got out.It’s time like these that it makes all the sense in the world that I work in
Brooklyn at Metrotech Center.Regards,
Josephine - Mike,Thank you for articulating so well what all of us here are feeling. I have so
many emotions running through my body right now. Luckily all of my friends that
work in the building are safe. I can only hope and pray for those who are still
alive in the rubble and their families. I think it is important to never give up
hope. I hope that your close friends and associates that have been struck with
this tragedy find some glimmer of hope in this horrible horrible situation.Thank You, - And may God Bless you and all those who feel the pain of what has happen to the best place to live in the World.