ARTICLE
Have you ever had a song stick in your mind that you just can’t unravel as to why this lyric is creeping into your daily thoughts? Sometimes it’s that drowning mythological noise that keeps you up at night like an endless beating drum in the back of your mind. At other times it is a soothing lyric or melody that brings you peace. Yesterday, as I was preparing my opening comments for today's Chamber quarterly luncheon speaker series, my mind went blank. I thought about this past Saturday’s events around the nation and locally. I don’t know about you but September 11, 2001 — the 20th anniversary and the horror of the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and American Flight 973 collectively — were one of those moments in my life that has affected how I look at the world, my nation, and my community. That terrorist attack sent an alarm signal that Americans were not safe on our own soil. I am certain many of you reading this eNews article or those who remember 9/11/2001 have your own vivid memories. I recall that earlier in July of 2001, I was in our nation’s capital. I attended several meetings at the West Wing of the White House and visited members of Congress on Capitol Hill over a course of three days. On September 11, 2001, I was home in San Jose awakening to the shocking visual news stories as they hit media air waves. It had a crippling effect on our emotions as my first thoughts were of those business associates and friends in Washington, DC who were at the Capitol or in/near the White House that early morning. Like so many Americans, we were stunned to silence — initial fear, anxiety, and anger creeped into our emotions. As the horrifying scenes evolved before your eyes as if we were right there in New York or Washington and an open field in Pennsylvania, the visuals of death and destruction were everywhere. Suddenly, you could see and hear the signs of compassion as survivors attended to a stranger helping them to the curb or getting them to emergency services. Our heroes — those first responders rose above and beyond the call of duty to do whatever they were capable of to help humankind. On that day, we lost 2,977 lives to a senseless act of violence. We shall Never Forget. We shall Never Forget. Today, twenty years later, America is again fighting a different global war — finding a way forward to fight a virus that is splitting states against the nation, parents and teachers against school administrators and employees versus employers, community against community and unfortunately incidents of violence because personal individual freedoms outweigh the common good. It is a painful reality that, in my opinion as a nation, we’ve stepped backward rather than forward learning from the experiences of 20 years ago. Of course, I will hear rumblings from readers that comparing a terrorist attack on our freedom is different from fighting a hidden enemy that is encased in a COVID virus and variants that continue to metastasize. That poses the question: Why write about an international event of horror from twenty years ago that led to the occupation of Afghanistan for two decades resulting in no conclusive exit plan, in a sense giving away the freedoms to the Afghan people to the Taliban regime? Why should we engage in this international conversation years later when we have so many local issues at our front doorstep that need immediate attention: addressing our affordable housing problems and our homeless population; finding reasonable solutions to get victims of the CZU wildfires back into their property and rebuild their lives; re-inventing how we bring back our downtown businesses by finding new hires to work in the retail shops and restaurants around town and throughout Santa Cruz County. How do we embrace change that is coming whether we want or like it? How do we look at one community member with an open mind and allow for the differences to exist without a full-throttle personal attack? How do we address racial equity if we are not able to agree to disagree on the merits of each individual? How can we seek a path to solutions unless we lay down our own personal opinions and listen to the other person’s point of view? You see, each hour of each day can bring about a unifying impact on our community if we try. It is not lost on history that on September 12, 1962, President Kennedy delivered his speech on the Rice University campus in Houston, Texas: a message of hope, a message of leadership, strength and positive direction. It is one of his best. I quote from his speech: “We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too. It is for these reasons that I regard the decision last year to shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as among the most important decisions that will be made during my incumbency in the office of the Presidency.” Now, why recite President Kennedy’s Moon Speech? Today, we are faced with different local challenges. We must choose to make a positive lasting impact for all of us in this decade that will make the difference for the next generation. Yes, it will be hard, but hard work never hurts anyone. You may disagree with the mission of the Chamber and the will of our members to forge opportunities that bring about economic vitality to our community. Yet, that is the mission we embark upon. The history of our nation’s past — like the terrorist attacks on America — makes us rethink our own challenges and the priorities that must be met head-on focusing our collective energies for the future of Santa Cruz County. As I prepare for the lunch event today, my mind is calm and reinvigorated. The lyrics in my head have stopped and we begin another adventure toward tomorrow.
Have you ever had a song stick in your mind that you just can’t unravel as to why this lyric is creeping into your daily thoughts? Sometimes it’s that drowning mythological noise that keeps you up at night like an endless beating drum in the back of your mind. At other times it is a soothing lyric or melody that brings you peace.
Yesterday, as I was preparing my opening comments for today's Chamber quarterly luncheon speaker series, my mind went blank. I thought about this past Saturday’s events around the nation and locally. I don’t know about you but September 11, 2001 — the 20th anniversary and the horror of the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and American Flight 973 collectively — were one of those moments in my life that has affected how I look at the world, my nation, and my community.
That terrorist attack sent an alarm signal that Americans were not safe on our own soil. I am certain many of you reading this eNews article or those who remember 9/11/2001 have your own vivid memories. I recall that earlier in July of 2001, I was in our nation’s capital. I attended several meetings at the West Wing of the White House and visited members of Congress on Capitol Hill over a course of three days.
On September 11, 2001, I was home in San Jose awakening to the shocking visual news stories as they hit media air waves. It had a crippling effect on our emotions as my first thoughts were of those business associates and friends in Washington, DC who were at the Capitol or in/near the White House that early morning. Like so many Americans, we were stunned to silence — initial fear, anxiety, and anger creeped into our emotions. As the horrifying scenes evolved before your eyes as if we were right there in New York or Washington and an open field in Pennsylvania, the visuals of death and destruction were everywhere. Suddenly, you could see and hear the signs of compassion as survivors attended to a stranger helping them to the curb or getting them to emergency services. Our heroes — those first responders rose above and beyond the call of duty to do whatever they were capable of to help humankind. On that day, we lost 2,977 lives to a senseless act of violence. We shall Never Forget. We shall Never Forget.
Today, twenty years later, America is again fighting a different global war — finding a way forward to fight a virus that is splitting states against the nation, parents and teachers against school administrators and employees versus employers, community against community and unfortunately incidents of violence because personal individual freedoms outweigh the common good. It is a painful reality that, in my opinion as a nation, we’ve stepped backward rather than forward learning from the experiences of 20 years ago.
Of course, I will hear rumblings from readers that comparing a terrorist attack on our freedom is different from fighting a hidden enemy that is encased in a COVID virus and variants that continue to metastasize. That poses the question: Why write about an international event of horror from twenty years ago that led to the occupation of Afghanistan for two decades resulting in no conclusive exit plan, in a sense giving away the freedoms to the Afghan people to the Taliban regime? Why should we engage in this international conversation years later when we have so many local issues at our front doorstep that need immediate attention: addressing our affordable housing problems and our homeless population; finding reasonable solutions to get victims of the CZU wildfires back into their property and rebuild their lives; re-inventing how we bring back our downtown businesses by finding new hires to work in the retail shops and restaurants around town and throughout Santa Cruz County. How do we embrace change that is coming whether we want or like it? How do we look at one community member with an open mind and allow for the differences to exist without a full-throttle personal attack? How do we address racial equity if we are not able to agree to disagree on the merits of each individual? How can we seek a path to solutions unless we lay down our own personal opinions and listen to the other person’s point of view?
You see, each hour of each day can bring about a unifying impact on our community if we try. It is not lost on history that on September 12, 1962, President Kennedy delivered his speech on the Rice University campus in Houston, Texas: a message of hope, a message of leadership, strength and positive direction. It is one of his best.
I quote from his speech: “We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too. It is for these reasons that I regard the decision last year to shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as among the most important decisions that will be made during my incumbency in the office of the Presidency.”
Now, why recite President Kennedy’s Moon Speech? Today, we are faced with different local challenges. We must choose to make a positive lasting impact for all of us in this decade that will make the difference for the next generation. Yes, it will be hard, but hard work never hurts anyone. You may disagree with the mission of the Chamber and the will of our members to forge opportunities that bring about economic vitality to our community. Yet, that is the mission we embark upon.
The history of our nation’s past — like the terrorist attacks on America — makes us rethink our own challenges and the priorities that must be met head-on focusing our collective energies for the future of Santa Cruz County. As I prepare for the lunch event today, my mind is calm and reinvigorated. The lyrics in my head have stopped and we begin another adventure toward tomorrow.