Sunday, September 11, 2011

A ROTARIAN REFLECTION ON THE 10th ANNIVERSARY

It is now 10 years since the World Trade Center Disaster of 9/11. I believe it was the saddest time in the history of New York City when more than 2,700 innocent people lost their lives. At the same time, I believe it was the most glorious time of the Rotary Club of New York, when it became the focus of compassionate Rotarians around the world, who contributed more than $1,4 million to the New York Rotary Foundation for the benefit of the 9/11 victims. (click below to read more)


On the day of 9/11, I was downtown on jury duty and I was sent home at 10:00 AM, because of the World Trade Center Explosions. On my way home, at Franklin Street and Broadway I saw scared people running towards me screaming when the first tower crumbled. We were three quarters of a mile from the World Trade Center (WTC). The subway was closed, so I had to walk home. When I came to the intersection of Prince Street and Wooster Street in Soho, 1.2 miles from the World Trade Center, I saw the second tower crumble in front of my eyes when I stood next to the TV camera from NBC that recorded the catastrophe.

It felt like being in a terror movie. It was real and unreal at the same time. People looked scared, people were crying. They could not use their cell phones, so they lined up at pay phones to find out about their loved ones. People with Walkmans reported the latest news. People in cars played their radios loud, with people around them listening. There were police, ambulance and fire truck sirens non-stop.

I went outside later in the evening. It was very quiet, hardly any traffic, very few people. One man, selling ice cream across the street from my home, told me that he saw the first plane pass our neighborhood in Greenwich Village at a very low altitude. Shortly thereafter, he heard the explosion from the World Trade Center.

I expressed all this in a newsletter on 9/11 that was sent to the mailing list of the new history group, that become our RGHF of today. The response was incredible. Rotarians did not only respond, they sent money to the New York Rotary WTC-DISASTER Relief Fund, which raised $1,460,912 for the victims of 9/11 thanks to compassionate Rotarian around the world! It may have been the biggest fundraising achievement in Rotary History by a single Rotary Club.  (Then NY6 president Helen Reisler credited the work of RGHF (Matts Ingemanson and Jack Selway) for raising nearly $800,000 of that total) 
  
I had been a Rotarian for only three years. The 9/11 experience taught me how compassionate and generous Rotarians are. It made a lasting impression on me. I truly understood the power of the International Fellowship of Rotarians and I was glad to be part of it.

I was especially touched when we received a donation of $100,000 from the Oklahoma City Rotary Foundation. I realized that the Rotary Clubs of Oklahoma City and New York City share a very strong bond because we had shared the experience of a major terror attack on our cities.

The Missouri District Governors Bill Schuck from Rotary District 6060 and Larry Lunsford from Rotary District 6040 came to the Rotary Club of New York on December 4th to present a bag full of checks with $97,839.15 for the WTC Disaster Relief Fund. The funds came from all three districts in Missouri (6040, 6060 and 6080). The New York Rotarians were very touched by this great generosity of the Missouri Rotarians.

I believe that the meaning of life is to exercise compassion in our service when we pass on the world to the next generation. If we don't have compassion, it does not make sense to be Rotarians. It is our compassion and commitment to service that have generated the great goodwill of Rotary. The world would be a much better place if there were more Rotarians in it.

It is important to understand Rotary's Global History when we shape the Future of Rotary.


Matts Ingemanson

Chairman 2004-2006 and Founding Member, Rotary Global History Fellowship
District Governor 2013-2014, Rotary International District 7230

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