City of Liberty

City of Liberty
by Jason Grant Shela MBE. Sept 11th 2001.

Your huddled masses come from near and far
nothing will ever dim your shining star
with peace and compassion let freedom reign
as the world unites and shares in our pain.

A city mourns with a sea of tears
Don’t be afraid cast away your fears
We stand together in our deepest sorrow
let us all pray for a brighter tomorrow.

The towers now reach an eternal sky
in our hearts forever shining high
a sign of the good, clothed in steel
as we all join hands and begin to heal.

To the fallen heroes, we bless their lives
sons and daughters, husbands and wives
the memory of you shall never wane
may peace prevail once again.

She stands in our harbor with her torch of gold
proclaiming her message for all to behold
protecting the gateway in a land of the free
watching over us,
sweet city of liberty.

(Copyright Sept 2001)

Reflections

Reflections of 9-11

by Jason Grant Shela MBE

In September 2000, I had just published an academic research paper on weather risk mitigation and how adverse weather affects global economics in the New York University Journal of Finance which was very well received. A colleague of mine at ABN AMRO trading called me to congratulate me and said a friend of his at Cantor Fitzgerald wanted to talk to me as they were looking to start a weather derivatives desk. A few days later I went up the 104 floors to their offices in the former twin towers and there were hundreds of people on that trading floor and the noise was deafening. They were very keen to hire me but my sixth sense and intuition told me this was not for me and decided to turn them down.

The morning of 9-11 2001 was a beautiful autumn day and I had just started a consulting project for Interpublic. I got the bus across town to 23rd street and Avenue of the Americas and started to walk down the avenue a few blocks to where the office was.

The first plane had hit literally as I got off the bus and i could see a huge hole in the building. Many of the staff were on the street as i arrived but no one realized this was an attack many thought it was an accident. As we looked up to the twin towers from about 2 miles north I saw a jet descending and then crash into the other tower with a massive fire ball. I ran up to the office to call my wife Mary who was then pregnant with our first child and working at Christie’s in midtown to get out of there and go home. The TV in the office announced we are under attack and everyone left. I went back to the street and looked up at the two burning buildings in total shock.

Then some time later the first tower buckled and down it came with a huge dust cloud and a short time later the second tower fell. It didn’t seem real seeing both towers come down from just a short distance away. I walked home in silence and put on the news and called mum and dad who were in Spain at the time to say I’m ok. We watched the tv news all day and it was a very emotional time. In the aftermath as families tried to find their loved ones put up paper flyers all over the city with their photos and info on them. It was obvious after a day or two that so many were never coming home again.

The smell of burning was really bad in the whole of the downtown area and we didn’t go out that much for a week only to get food. I was moved to write a poem that afternoon called City of Liberty.

I am very grateful to the Almighty to be here and thankfully did not accept a job which would have ended my life. I thank my wonderful family and friends for all your love and kindness you give me every day and I am so fortunate to work with amazing athletic youth and brilliant college students who inspire and uplift me. The names of the 9-11 heroes are being read out at the world trade center memorial this morning 25 years later and it’s so very sad as the loss is immense but they are never forgotten and their memory endures forever, my tears pour out for all the angels now in heaven.