Community Corner
Birmingham Reflects on Sept. 11: Changing Life as We Know It
"We lost our naiveté then, our Sept. 10 mentality," says one of 12 Birmingham area voices commenting on a turning point's 10th anniversary.
Memories of Sept. 11, 2001 are widely shared, but also personally distinct. So are reflections on the enduring impact of that life-altering day a decade ago.
Birmingham Patch presents 12 diverse perspectives on what happened that sunny Tuesday morning and the ensuing decade — including comments by a sheriff, an educator, civic leaders, a county commissioner and a woman widowed that indelible morning.
'It's still traumatic'
Lilly Epstein Stotland
Business Development Manager, Vesco Oil Corp.
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Sept. 11 had a truly profound impact on clarifying my life priorities. It was as an extremely traumatic day, experienced first-hand on a morning we (Goldman Sachs) were going to introduce a large corporate bond offering. Our headquarters office on Broad Street wasn't far from the World Trade Center, so the horror unfolded in full view. Soon I was part of the exodus, covered in dust from the towers from head to toe.
We lost our naiveté then, our Sept. 10 mentality. Life become a lot more serious, more focused. It made clear what I was meant to do and where I was meant to be — back here (in Michigan) with my family and friends.
Find out what's happening in Birminghamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
For a long time, I couldn't even look at the images. It's still traumatic; the images are still very painful to see. This is a difficult week, but I'm glad people are talking and thinking about 9/11, and there are a lot of events and memorials to remember those who were lost and those who were so brave in responding. We can't forget what happened that day.
It's amazing how sheltered so many Americans were, not realizing that our system, our economy and our way of life provoke intense hatred among some people. We still have a long way to go in the war on terror.
Epstein Stotland, a Birmingham resident, graduated from Detroit Country Day and Harvard University. She returned to Michigan from New York City in early 2002 and earned a master of business administration at the University of Michigan in 2004. She is a general manager at a Southfield energy firm her family owns.
For more accounts of where Birmingham's leaders and residents were on Sept. 11, stay tuned for more in our Birmingham Reflects series. Then, check out what we've published so far.
