Let's Roll - 20 Years Later

This post is not intended to cast me as a victim or hero of 9/11, it's merely an expression of gratitude to those who did, and continue to, take my place. At any time, any one of us could be asked to make the ultimate sacrifice, and I hope if it ever comes to that, I conduct myself with the bravery and courage of Todd Beamer and 2,976 other ordinary people that were killed that day.

I can’t say I knew Todd Beamer. I was 2 years ahead of him at Wheaton and, although I met Lisa (later Todd’s wife) a couple times, I didn’t know either of them well. But when I read Lisa’s book in the early 2000’s there was an eerie similarity between my life and Todd’s. We both graduated from Wheaton around the same time and had both found our way into software sales. Lisa (also my wife’s name) talked about the frustration of after-hours conference calls cutting into time with their young children, something that resonated with my wife as well. Our kids were the same age; my kids also went to Wheaton and my daughter graduated a year ahead of Todd’s oldest son.

I later joined the same group that Todd was in at Oracle, and worked with people that were on the club trip in Italy that Todd and Lisa were on before they flew home so Todd could attend an Oracle CVC ( a trip I also made many times). Many of you reading this travel for business (or did) and like me, have taken hundreds of flights just like the one that should have landed safely in San Francisco that day.

In 2006 I became a volunteer firefighter, and I feel a bond with the 343 firefighters that gave their lives that day, along with the others that walk the thin red line, before and since. I was a soldier during a time of relative calm, but I remember the 7,057 service members that gave their lives since 9/11, including 11 marines, 1 soldier and 1 sailor killed two weeks ago.

Beyond 9/11 my peers are still sacrificing. As a paramedic and now an RN and I recognize the 3,600 healthcare workers that have died during the pandemic.

I am not sure if I used Todd’s phrase “Let’s Roll” before he famously said it, but I have used it thousands of times since. It is the unofficial motto of Wheaton College athletics and the football players reach up and touch the sign before taking the field. To me it means “Let’s get on with it”; we can’t predict how it will turn out, but let’s get this started.

It is a phrase we need now more than ever. Our country is divided by fear and misinformation coming from the right and the left, and instead of uniting against a common threat we have allowed ourselves to be turned against each other. Todd and the other heroes of flight 93 could not predict how the situation would turn out, and I am sure they each regretted they were on that flight, but they didn’t let fear paralyze them; they did what they could that day, and likely saved lives in the process.

Take a minute on 9/11 to remember those that took our place that day. Any one of us could have been in the World Trade Center, the Pentagon or on one of those flights. Thankfully we weren’t, but that further obligates us to pick up the fight for those that no longer can. There is a lot of work to be done in this country and it will take all of us to get it done. I can’t predict how it is going to turn out, but the sooner we start, the better. Let’s Roll.