On November 22, 1963, when JFK was shot? (Me: at prep school in Port Hope. A student ran into the dining hall yelling: “Kennedy was shot! Kennedy was shot!” We thought it was a fellow student named “Kennedy”)…
On July 2, 1969, when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon? (Me: In Edmonton in a friend’s basement rumpus room.)
On October 16, 1970, when Pierre Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act saying “just watch me” during the FLQ Crisis? (Me: at university in the States, where it wasn’t so momentous.)
On November 9, 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell? (Me: home alone in Toronto with my constant companion, cocaine.)
On August 31, 1997, when Princess Diana died in Paris? (Me: Jean and I were eating at a dockside crabshack in Seattle after camping in Olympia National Park. We couldn’t bring ourselves to believe that a princess could die.)
On April 15, 2013, when a bomb exploded at the Boston Marathon? (Me: Waiting for Jean to finish the race which she did 10 minutes before. It took me five hours to find her.)
On March 13, 2020, when COVID locked down the world? (Me: Driving to our cottage on Georgian Bay which we made our home for the next two years.)
And of course, the most memorable of all, which happened 25 years ago yesterday…9/11.
I was running through Central Park on that gorgeous morning before heading downtown to meet the editors who I was in New York to pitch my travel stories to. I never made those meetings because at 8:46 a.m. the first plane flew into the World Trade Center.
I was staying with a friend who worked on Wall Street and by early evening she’d walked home all the way to 81st St and Central Park. By then, restaurants were either closed or took only cash. She estimated that 25,000 people died in the twin towers; I guessed 50,000. We were both gratefully wrong. After dinner, we watched the unfolding horror on TV, and flipping through the channels we fell across Peter Mansbridge announcing that the CN Tower had been shut down and the Toronto Police SWAT squad was guarding its entrance. How did we get CBC in Manhattan? I learned later that CBC News was the default network for The Weather Channel when there’s a disaster or crisis.
That afternoon, I’d rented one of the last rental cars in Manhattan, stowed it in an overnight parking lot, and drove home to Toronto early the next morning. I drove up Riverside Drive, crossed the George Washington Bridge and got on to I-95. As I crossed the bridge, I turned my head sharp left and looked downtown where I saw the smoke from the towers which continued to burn and emit smoke for nearly 100 days after. That afternoon I got to the border at Gananoque and saw an RCMP car at Canada Immigration with the officer standing outside holding a shotgun.
By nightfall, I turned the car in to the rental firm at Union Station, where Jean met me and we hugged and cried together. She’d been up at our cottage writing her book and didn’t hear about the planes until later in the afternoon when a patient called her and mentioned: “Crazy what’s happening in New York, eh?” Jean called our kids, got in the car and drove to Toronto. That night, they all gave blood at the Red Cross on College. Everyone felt they had to do something.
A few days later I learned with shock of the death of Ralph Gerhardt, the son of my long-time pal, Hans Gerhardt, who ran the Sutton Place Hotel for many years. Ralph was one of 658 employees of the investment banking firm Cantor Fitzgerald who lost their lives that day. The firm occupied floors 101 through 105 of the North Tower.
After the 10th anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks, Hans asked if I would like to host a Ramsay Talk with Cantor Fitzgerald’s then-CEO Howard Lutnick (now the U.S. Secretary of Commerce), and his sister Edie Lutnick, the executive director of the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund.
The Fund has raised $300 million to help Cantor Fitzgerald families, in addition to the firm’s pledge of $180 million. Their younger brother Gary died in his office that day and Howard missed certain death because he took his son to his first day of kindergarten instead of going to the office.
Edie Lutnik e-mailed me this week to remind me of the 25th anniversary of 9/11 and to say the Fund has produced a book and video titled The Families: 9/11 Anthology of Love, Loss and Lessons of Resilience to commemorate the anniversary of the attacks. The book contains 176 essays by survivors, family members and witnesses whose lives were changed forever by the attacks on the World Trade Center.
Here is Hans Gerhardt’s essay.
Lest we forget.
Life hangs by a thread.
Meanwhile…
1. A new section. Lots of our readers are writers, with strong views on what’s wrong and right with the world. So now, when you send me a cogent argument pro or con, I may publish it. My hope is that enough readers are tempted to say: “And furthermore!” that one item a week will be written by you and not me. Our first piece is by Jim Thomas, former Ontario deputy minister and President of Hugh’s Room, on why Canadians need to start behaving like this is an economic war.
2. Strong and free. Why America keeps coming for Canadian culture. Plus she is Canadian and not sorry for it. Neither is her bourbon. And did you know who has more lakes than the rest of the world combined? And who are our export partners? And who is each U.S. states’ top export partner?
3. Handheld cancer. This device can accurately detect cancer and HIV before a lab. Plus, what are the real benefits of GLP-1s (Ozempic, Wegovy, etc.) beyond weight loss? Plus, the autism epidemic that wasn’t, should we eradicate mosquitos?, and how to live young.
4. There’s never been anyone like you, ever. But now you can go back in time and create who you could have been. And if you’re looking for a mate, just play Truth. Dare. Love. Plus the Bottle Blonde Theory of Bird Colour. And the World Cup in Sperm-Racing. And if you’re looking for odd internet sites, here they are. And why I lurv Matthew Rhys. And how to climb up and down a bamboo pole. And finally, a brand-new way to freeze yourself for a better afterlife.
5. Power shifts. First, in chips, where it’s huge. Next, in quantum computers which are finally taking off. Plus, the AI camera that turns what you see into poetry, and some industry-standard tools (many are pre-tech). Finally, Yuval Noah Harari on how AI will make today’s pace of change seem like nothing compared to tomorrow’s.
6.The most isolated place on earth is….Point Nemo. Plus the best secondary destinations abroad, and the best water purifiers for travellers. Here also is the latest report on Global Residency Programs, like Golden Visas. Note where Canada stands. Plus how 9/11 changed airport security in the past 25 years, and finally, now this is a campervan.
7. Toe-tappin, knee-slappin, head bangin. First, flamenco. Next, Michael Jackson’s “Billy Jean”. And William Tell without instruments, and why nobody sings about Kalamazoo any more.
And Michael Wolff may be a political commentator who writes scathingly on the U.S. President. But when he says this is the end of Pro Football, he’s not wrong.
8. Behind the camera. Queen Victoria’s Men has landed on Prime. De Gaulle Résistance lands soon at Cineplex in Ottawa. Next, how to create sound effects – and surreal animation. And how an abandoned film rose to fight again. Finally, the plagiarized Chris Nolan interview.
9. The food of the gods, and of the dogs. First, some fast-food firsts. Plus how can Walmart keep selling $4.99 rotisserie chicken? And introducing the schnitzel king of Berlin, and the world atlas of sausages. Next, two serious queries: is it better to dine side-by-side? And what happens to smorgasbords in the Age of Ozempic? Finally, the shipwrecked bottle of Guinness.
10. New words for hard things. Start with 10 words for difficult emotions. Plus the 10 most borrowed books of all time from the New York Public Library. And yes, anyone can be an architecture critic. You just need to learn the words. Speaking of how-to’s, here’s how to write a thesis, and how not to pitch your article idea to the New Yorker. And finally, two doorstopper books, on bookshops and British novels.
11. Guess who opened the Bayeux Tapestry exhibition in London? Yes, them. And why India was more important to the British Empire than the Brits thought. And now, leap into this trove of old catalogues. Plus, what does gerrymandering do?
12. Growing up about growing old. Let’s start with what it costs to retire comfortably. Though I sense it’s much more than this. No wonder the poverty rate for seniors is so high worldwide (odd that Korean oldsters are the poorest). Plus, Paul Krugman on how America is losing its economic war in Iran. And McKinsey’s annual banking review, essential reading for us all. And finally, the list that lives on: this week The Giller Award published its longlist of authors for Canada’s most prestigious literary award.
Guaranteed 100% written by Bob Ramsay, human.