Eight years later

9:11am.

I'm jarred from my morning leadership meeting with a casual glance at the clock.

It's been eight years since

...the towers fell

...New Yorkers banded together

...I realized that whatever I do professionally needs to have meaning

Of course, that was right when I graduated college and had absolutely no skills.  I thought of working in a summer camp that brought together children from conflict zones, in order to teach them early that the "enemy" was really just another kid who loved soccer as much as they did.

And as fulfilling as that might have been, looking back I'm so grateful I stayed in consulting.  I distinctly remember watching the 9/11 memorial events two years later...I was applying to business school then.  Again, the reminder that whatever I do needs to have meaning.  But this time, I felt grateful in thinking my strategy consulting skills could be used, somehow and in a small way, to make the world a little better.

Thinking back to 2001, it's funny what images stay in your mind.  Of course, there are the images of the planes crashing.  But I also see all the "Missing" posters -- especially the one of the smiling grandfather in his green blazer and laughing eyes (you New Yorkers know who I'm talking about...his posters plastered the city)... images of the Yankees boosting morale and helping out in Ground Zero... memorials everywhere.  Like most New Yorkers, I had no idea how to help, but just wanted to do something.  I spent some time today looking back at photos collected in a gallery I volunteered at after the attacks, called "Here is New York".  

It's easy to miss New York, and the city is especially in my thoughts today.