Often when we are reminded of horrific events, unless personally involved, we pause for a moment and think about the event that has been brought to our attention, again, and move on to what we doing or thinking before such a reminder. So, possibly, this could be the case with the 9/11 terrorists’ attack on the World Trade Center 14 years ago today. I say “possibly,” except for meeting Edith Ludnick. Her youngest brother, Gary, was in his office at the building hit by Osama Bin Laden’s orchestrated plane crash on September 11, 2001. Edie, as her family and friends know her, raised Gary after their parents had died at an early age. Her other brother…
Often when we are reminded of horrific events, unless personally involved, we pause for a moment and think about the event that has been brought to our attention, again, and move on to what we doing or thinking before such a reminder. So, possibly, this could be the case with the 9/11 terrorists’ attack on the World Trade Center 14 years ago today.
I say “possibly,” except for meeting Edith Ludnick. Her youngest brother, Gary, was in his office at the building hit by Osama Bin Laden’s orchestrated plane crash on September 11, 2001. Edie, as her family and friends know her, raised Gary after their parents had died at an early age.
Her other brother Howard was and is the President and CEO of the Wall Street investment banking firm Cantor Fitzgerald. The firm maintained its offices on the top floors of the World Trade Center hit by the airplanes. Gary Lutnick and 657 of his other co-workers at Cantor Fitzgerald, a total of 658 employees, lost their lives 14 years ago.
Edie wrote a book about that day, AN UNBROKEN BOND: The Untold Story of How The 658 Cantor Fitzgerald Families Faced The Tragedy of 9/11 and Beyond. In its opening pages, she writes:
“This book is dedicated to the 9/11 families, without whose courage and live I would not have survived, and by whose resilience and strength I am awed. Your loved ones were outstanding human beings; I have learned this everyday. With their absence, the world has been robbed, but by living each day with dignity and honor, you are a testament to them, and to us all.”
Wow! If THIS doesn’t get to you, I don’t know what will. Or, to put it in THE current media lexicon: “9/11 Lost Lives Matter.”
I wrote the foreword to Edie’s book. Among other things, I said,
“The terrorist airplane attacks against the World Trade Center… challenge our ability to grasp and comprehend the enormity of the horror and loss experienced by fellow Americans. On that day almost 3,000 people were murdered.”
“The most challenging issue the book poses is not expressly stated. It is the same haunting question raised by Simon Wiesenthal in his book, The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness. Writing about his experiences as a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp, he describes a dying Nazi soldier who has asked for forgiveness. Wiesenthal asks the reader, ‘What would you do?’
“After reading Edie Lutnick’s book we must all ask ourselves, what should WE do, now,
after 9/11?”
What I wrote then is still topical and relevant to day, 14 years and counting.
I also said, then: “If you read nothing else about 9/11… you must read this book.”
9/11 Lost Lives Matter!
If not now, when?
If not us, who?
— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
Original source –
