Today is the day that changed the way we, as Americans, looked at the world. On September 11, 2001, the United States of America came face-to-face with an unimaginable force of evil. From the Twin Towers of The World Trade Center, to the halls of the Pentagon, to a simple field in Pennsylvania, 2,977 Americans lost their lives that day. “May all of their memories be a blessing,” as we say in Judaism.
It is hard to imagine that 23 years ago, these attacks would change the fabric of our country in so many ways. Remembering the lives of those lost—people who changed the lives of those who knew and loved them—is a fitting way to commemorate today.
Bonnie Shihadeh Smithwick died at The World Trade Center. I never had the pleasure of knowing Bonnie, but I knew her daughter, a boarding student in 2001 at Garrison Forest School in Owings Mills, Maryland. I lived in Meadowood dorm with my wife, Debbie, who taught Chemistry at Garrison Forest, and our two young daughters. Even though I was the “on-campus faculty spouse,” I still played a daily roll in the boarding school community.
Bonnie’s daughter was an incredibly caring, kind and empathetic young woman. Debbie and I often said that if our daughters grow up to be as lovely as her daughter was, then we will have done well by our children.
As with many school communities that had students, faculty, and staff who lost loved ones on 9/11, Garrison Forest wrapped its collective arms around Bonnie’s daughter after her mother’s horrific death. Multiple layers of support were put in place to help her daughter cope with the unimaginable.
Years later, in October 2022, Debbie and I visited the World Trade Center 9/11 Memorial. It had long been something that we had wanted to do. Two years after 9/11, we stayed at a Marriott hotel that had just re-opened and overlooked the site of the Twin Towers before the memorial was built. Both visits were incredibly emotional.
We had a simple goal on that cool, crisp fall October New York day. We wanted to find Bonnie’s name and pay our respects. It took us some time to locate the large bronze tablet with her name. It was a very solemn moment. With tears in our eyes (both then and today as I write these words), we both thought of her kind, loving young daughter.
It is my sincere hope that all of us will pause today on 9/11 to remember those who were brutally taken from us.
Bonnie, you did an amazing job raising a fine young woman. May the kindness, love and empathy you radiate to others be one of the greatest gifts you have left us.
Today, I will remember Bonnie. May her memory be a blessing.
