You know, it never hit me on Sept. 11. It hit me on the 12th when I'm looking at my ticket, and my ticket was the flight that ended up in the World Trade Center. And that was just me, I was bawling. I dodged a bullet, for some reason. And I still don't know why. I did not make that decision. It was the stupidest decision. I mean, no one in their right mind, given all the facts would say, yeah, you should switch your flight. So whether it's God or an angel or higher power, I don't care what you call it, but something was working through me to make that change because it was not a rational decision. It was less than 24 hours, it was three o'clock in the afternoon on Monday the [September] 10th. I, on a whim, said, you know what, I'm not gonna go tomorrow, I'm going to go on Thursday, because I'm going to spend the weekend in LA, because my brother lives there. And I can, you know, at least see him when I'm out there. Because if I left on Tuesday, I would come back early, and I wouldn't be able to see him. And it was the stupidest decision because I had a class that I was taking to get my degree. And so I missed the class. And I knew that if I missed three classes, that I would have failed the course. So it was really stupid for me to, to do that. On top of that, I was gonna miss half of the conference that I was going to go to anyways. So it made no sense to change it. And again, my fiance, I told them, I'm gonna make a change. Like, this doesn't make any sense. And she was trying to argue with me and telling me not to do it. And, you know, I didn't listen to her. I mean, every day when this comes up, every September 11, I kind of wonder, why am I here? I don't know. I do have a son who wouldn't be here if it wasn't for that change. And maybe it's his destiny, you know. But I wonder why, why I'm here. And I really don't understand it. But for what changes that I made, I definitely changed my job. And I realized that life is short. And I want to make sure that the things that I do, are things that I'm enjoying, and that I'm part of society and, and making a difference in the world. I also think about how our society changed. Because one of the greatest things was right after Sept. 11, we had unity, unity in this country. We had unity in the world, and we had support from all over. People were kind to each other. Just walking down the street. We all went through the same horrible event. And we rose together, not just as Americans, but as global citizens too. And look where we are 20 years, and the infighting and divisiveness that has occurred. We are so far off from where we should be. And it's disappointing. I mean, I always look at it. And it makes me think of the fact that we are all in this together. And I do look at the positive side of it. And I do. I mean, I remember that feeling afterwards, and how people talked to each other. And I mean, just driving down the street, how much kinder people were. And I try to live that every day since then. I think that that's the way we should be. We should take that extra few minutes for other people. You know, say something that makes the cashier smile in the store. Help the person who you know is carrying a heavy load, whatever it is, but we should take more time to actually be present in the now with other people.

Renato DiLorenzo