09/11/2026
Twenty-five years ago today, everyone remembers exactly where they were and what they were doing... at least those of us old enough to remember that morning.
Time seemed to stand still in the early hours of September 11.
I vividly remember walking into the AT&T building in Oak Brook, near the McDonald’s headquarters in the Chicago suburbs. There was a small deli downstairs, and a small TV was on. A crowd of around 20 people had gathered around it.
I heard someone say, “A big plane just hit one of the tallest buildings in New York City.”
I stopped to watch while getting my morning coffee.
Then, to all of our disbelief, we watched live as the second plane crashed into the other tower.
There was a collective gasp from everyone standing around the television.
The Fox News host said something along the lines of, “Oh my goodness... another one. This seems to be on purpose.”
In that moment, everything changed.
I immediately ran upstairs to my office on the sixth floor and turned on the news. I also called my family in India and told them something enormous had happened in America.
And it truly was enormous.
Life in America changed dramatically afterward. Airports were never the same again. People looked at one another with more suspicion. The markets crashed. People lost jobs. For a while, there was a feeling that the world had changed overnight.
But America endured.
We mourned. We rebuilt. We came together. And we pursued those responsible for this horrific attack.
Today, 25 years later, we remember the innocent lives that were lost, the families forever changed, and the incredible heroes who ran toward danger while others were running away.
Salute to the first responders, firefighters, police officers, emergency workers, ordinary citizens, and every hero of that day.
We will never forget. 🇺🇸
