This 25th anniversary of the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center is causing us all to reflect on both the new political era into which we were ushered and the tragedy that affected tens of thousands of people. This anniversary brings up a memory that is both uplifting and dispiriting.

Like all of us in this country and even around the world – and perhaps especially those of us who live in New York City – I was in the state of shock over this event. I remember that morning of 9/11, a Whole World Botanicals’ staff member alerted me to a text she received saying that an airplane had flown into one of the towers at the World Trade Center. I ran to turn on the TV and heard commentators wondering whether this was an accident involving a small plane or a terrorist attack. I immediately thought it was a terrorist attack. As I watched the coverage, a few minutes later I witnessed the second plane plowing into the second tower.