On This Day

There are few of us who do not remember where we were and exactly what we were doing the very moment we became aware of the catastrophe in our beloved NYC in 2001.

No humanly words can ever express what each and every individual experienced. The media played the horrific scenes repeatedly as if any one of us could ever forget.



For those of us who were in the 'Wall Street' financial community at the time, we know that it is a large industry. Yet within the trading world it has always seemed like a small village. You either knew someone or knew of someone.

I still remember the very last conversation I had with a young man at Cantor Fitzgerald not 15 minutes earlier. He was asking me about Vermont because he wanted to take his Mom there on a mini vacation to see the foliage.



My own sister worked at the NYSE. As I fielded panicked phone calls between Mom and my brother in law, I was telling my sister that she needed to leave and make her way to my apartment ASAP. I tried to keep my own fear from exploding so as to stay calm on the phone for my Mom's benefit. I found myself outright lying and assuring her that my sister was not in any danger when I knew nothing of the sort. My sister eventually walked to my home many hours later, but not before she was witness to chaos.



If there is a hell, that day may have been a glimpse of what it is like.



I remember those who were a necessary part of my daily business life, but more so the laughter they evoked almost continuously. No one can joke like a trader. I choose to remember them in this way. Their very existence, made a hectic and stressful industry fun. They were part of a network of individuals who recognized that along side the seriousness of what we did for a living, there needed to be balance in the way of downright silliness and sarcasm; two things traders do well. I miss the human spirit that allowed that to be.



My prayers go out to family and friends of all who lost someone who made their world a better place.