On Friday the 13th day of November, 2015, the city of Paris was hit by multiple, deadly terrorist attacks. Like September 11, 2001 in New York City—or “9/11″[3]—the attacks and those who died will live on in the world’s consciousness. They were tragic, horrific events similar those that have occurred in other cities and countries during recent years.
Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu, in what is now the State of Hawaii, was struck on the morning of December 7, 1941, which led to the United States’ entry into World War II—”a date which will live in infamy,” in the words of Franklin D. Roosevelt.[4]
For non-New Yorkers, the city was cold and overwhelming for most Americans before 9/11. Even for those who could afford it, and traveled there for business, it was still uninviting. After 9/11, most Americans embraced it and the heroic rescuers who went to the twin towers of the World Trade Center, trying to save lives. Many of them perished.
“Windows on the World” restaurant, at the top of the North Tower, had spectacular views of the city; and one’s ears popped riding the elevator to its 107th floor.[5] It is gone now, but New York City remains the financial capital of the world. Similarly, the lovely city of Paris will survive and flourish even more after the attacks, for it has taken its place in the hearts of people around the world.
There are thousands of stories to be told by the survivors and other witnesses, and by those who came to their aid. Perhaps they are best exemplified in the interview conducted by CNN’s Anderson Cooper with Isobel Bowdery and Amaury Baudoin, which is short and should be watched in its entirety:
In a wonderful and loving sense, all of us became Parisians, just like all of us became New Yorkers.
Also, it must never be forgotten that Islam has approximately 1.8 billion followers, only a pittance of whom are terrorists. It would be wrong to discriminate against the majority, or ostracize them. They have suffered too, for the acts of the radicals.
Please remember the words of Love, and the emotions expressed by both Isobel Bowdery and Amaury Baudoin . . .
© 2015, Timothy D. Naegele
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[1] Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass). He and his firm, Timothy D. Naegele & Associates, specialize in Banking and Financial Institutions Law, Internet Law, Litigation and other matters (see www.naegele.com and http://www.naegele.com/documents/TimothyD.NaegeleResume.pdf). He has an undergraduate degree in economics from UCLA, as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University. He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal. Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., www.naegele.com/whats_new.html#articles), and can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com; see also Google search: Timothy D. Naegele
[2] Note: This article is an expansion of earlier comments at this blog. See https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2015/07/01/global-chaos-and-helter-skelter/#comment-7819 (“A Friday The 13th Paris Survivor’s Tale”)
[3] See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks (“September 11 attacks”)
[4] See, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor (“Attack on Pearl Harbor”)
[5] See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_on_the_World (“Windows on the World”)
NaegeleBlog 
Very well written Timothy….and accurate.
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Thanks for taking the time to remind us all that even though horrific tragedies have occurred in our cities, we will not bow to terriorists, but rather become stronger and more caring of all peoples.
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No To Terrorism
[Paris]
“They might have guns but we have flowers”: French father to son after Paris terror—which includes another moving interview with the father and son, conducted by CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
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Timothy, thanks for that compassionate and yet strong discussion about the aftermath of the major terrorist attacks the West has experienced during the last two decades including the latest attacks in Paris, Mali and an attempted one in Germany.
Your mention of the WTC……….I grew up in that area of the country. I remember how depressed and outraged I was when 9/11 happened, which I watched with my family on TV where we live in Arizona. I have a strong visual memory of the World Trade Center; the two monoliths rising from the plaza with the globe like sculpture there, the Atrium in Tower Two, the observatory on the 102nd floor, the viewing platform two stories above the roof, and how you could see people dining across the gap in the Windows of the World restaurant. I remember walking thru the Pentagon as a child with my parents, when a safer world allowed tourists to do this. These attacks were very personal to me.
Our travels in places like Mexico, Israel, Spain and England put us in the exact spots that had been attacked by terrorists before or after. Paris is a wonderful city that deserves better than to have massacres by well organized but deranged groups of determined militia. We’ve traveled in that city although not in actual spots that had later been attacked.
The world has always been a dangerous and violent place thru out history, there is nothing new under the sun. Nations reacting to these outrages must always keep it all in perspective and not lower themselves to the level of ruthless militants seeking to kill innocents as they attempt their objectives (perhaps of a third Caliphate Empire, which is what I strongly think is their goal). Even in war, and we are at war, we need to defend our civilization without losing that which makes us different than our enemies. This is a very difficult challenge as in any war.
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Thank you, Jonathan. Well said.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.
I was in California on 9/11, and had gotten up to watch Laura Bush testify before a U.S. Senate Committee on CSPAN. All of us became New Yorkers that day, and were stunned more than anything else.
Also, I spent two years at the Pentagon as an Army officer assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency, so I knew that building well and the dedicated people who work there tirelessly on behalf of our great nation.
I had eaten dinner in the “Windows on the World” restaurant, and remember it well. I was entertaining a lovely flight attendant from California, who was based in the New York City suburbs. She ordered something for dinner; and when it came, she seemed “unexcited.” Hence, being a gentleman, I offered to give her my dinner, and she agreed.
I looked at her food, and ate the only thing that looked familiar, which I thought was avocado. It turned out to be super hot Wasabi; and her dinner was sushi, which I had not eaten before. I took the “ball” of Wasabi all down; and it is the only time in my life I thought that I was dying. I could not catch my breath. She did not know what was happening. much less how to help me,
Yes, I remember Windows on the World and the World Trade Center well.
Lastly, you wrote:
I agree completely.
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