As someone born and raised in New York City, I would be remiss this fall if I did not take note of the 25th anniversary of 9/11, that darkest of days that abruptly changed the trajectory of the 21st century, not just for America, but for all the world.

I was actually in Washington DC that fateful morning in 2001, expecting to represent Design-Build magazine at a meeting with the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA). But that meeting actually had fallen through for me the night before, after I had already arrived in DC. So on the morning of 9/11, I had told my wife that I was trying to arrange a tour of the newly renovated wedge of the Pentagon, which had just been completed via design-build project delivery. 

Fortunately for me, I was unable to set up a last-minute tour, so I was not onsite when the Defense Dept. headquarters was pierced that morning by a hijacked commercial airliner. Traveling around DC that day, I will never forget the otherworldly, movie-set feel of unreality on the streets of our nation's capital, as its confused and terrified citizenry tried to grasp what the heck was going on.

Army jeeps with machine gun turrets were deployed on dowtown overpasses, as anxious soldiers stood guard, scanning passing traffic for God-knows-what. Some 225 miles north, of course, at the southern tip of Manhattan, things were much, much worse, as chaos, fear and clouds of toxic dust enveloped my hometown.

All these swirling memories prompted me to research what ASHRAE's response to the shocking tragedy had been. The Society's then-President, Bill Coad, a member of HPAC Engineering's Editorial Advisory Board, said at the time, "As a society of engineers, it is in our nature to build. To witness purposeful destruction of lives, machines, and structures is repulsive to us 
not only as human beings but doubly so as mankind's builders."

But Coad was also struck by the extraordinary outreach, sympathy and offers of support that he received from ASHRAE members all over the world. "I was absolutely dumbfounded by the outpouring of concern I received from our friends in other countries," he recalled years later. 

In 2002, Coad's successor as ASHRAE President, Don Colliver, wrote, "Our focus as a people is now on rebuilding. Not only at Ground Zero, but in our society, in our way of life, and for many, in their personal lives. We feel a 
greater need to connect on a human Ievel with one another. Statistics reveal since the September tragedy an unprecedented number of people have volunteered for community service. Let this, then, be our opportunity to also rebuild."

INDEED, community service is the aspect that I would like to close on here.

Twenty-five years after 9/11, we seem to have forgotten so many of the hard lessons that we learned that day and in the months of extraordinary compassion and international solidarity that immediately followed. But arguably, ASHRAE and the international engineering community somehow seem to have held on to that feeling, that tighter, universal bond of respect and comradery, forged by tragedy.

So my wish for this solemn anniversary is that we as a nation can follow your lead as engineers, that we may look back on 9/11 not just with anger and sadness, but with hope and determination. And may those qualities help us to see each other as members of a global community that builds not just solid structures, but resilient relationships... that can withstand even the darkest of days.

#####

For more from 2001-2002 ASHRAE President Bill Coad, click here.

For more from 2002-2003 ASHRAE President Don Colliver, click here.