September 11th memories

Ten years ago, I was the manager of corporate communications for MDU Resources and working in the Schuchart Building north of the North Dakota capitol. I was in my office when I got a call from George McDonald, a videographer with MDU, who was in the TV studio watching the first World Trade Center Tower burning.

He called me to the basement and we were watching a replay on a TV monitor when a second jet hit the second tower and another ball of fire erupted from the explosion. I had been to the World Trade Center in 1976 and had eaten in one of the large ballrooms near the top floor….about where the jet hit.

As the fire and smoke rolled out of the buildings, the announcers were speculating about the start of World War III, the whereabouts of President Bush and any number of things. It would be later that the towers would fall and the huge clouds of dust would mushroom up from lower Manhattan. The fire trucks and the police cars were rushing to the scene; however, most of the video was being shot blocks away from the Twin Towers. You couldn’t see people jumping from the buildings like we did later on.

For me, I had some immediate concerns. The president of MDU Resources and a number of other company employees were in New York City at the time meeting with credit agencies and financial houses. There were a series of meetings that had been scheduled – some months in advance – and our department had worked on writing speeches, preparing powerpoints and printing complementary materials for the meetings.

I didn’t know exactly where the MDU officials were staying but my guess was that they weren’t staying next to the World Trade Center but more in the center of Manhattan. It wasn’t long before I got called to a meeting where I found that the company officials in New York City were safe, but they had been close to the World Trade Center earlier in the morning.

Then there was a new wrinkle that we had to deal with. My boss, the vice president of corporate communications, was in Washington, D.C., and staying near the Pentagon building where another jet had rammed into it.

It was a strange day because while I felt safe in Bismarck, I had lots of people I knew in places that weren’t very safe. I could feel for them because I was sure they were doing things that weren’t part of any travel plans. For instance, with these two cities being attacked, would there be any public transportation running or restaurants open? It’s one thing to be home and eating out of a crowded refrigerator, but it’s quite another to be on the road and find yourself isolated from the rest of the world because everyone is hunkered down waiting for the next plane to hit. Just think of living out of a suitcase in New York City with no running water, no toilet, no electricity and no food.

Eventually, all the people from MDU returned back to Bismarck. The group that was in New York City had to wait a couple of days before taking a taxi cab from New York to Cleveland, Ohio, before the company plane could fly out and get them. I can’t remember how my boss got home, but I remember, there was a no fly moratorium in place right after September 11, 2001.

I also remember the markets were tanking after September 11^th and that our local churches were never so full as they were on the next Sunday. A little more than a month later, I was about to be jarred even harder when I found out my position at MDU had been eliminated. It was a strange time, but now 10 years later, we can see with 20/20 hindsight. Still, at the time, it was difficult to navigate because everything had changed.

If there is a lesson from September 11^th, it might be this….above all, persevere. Life goes on.