Reluctant Hero: A 911 Survivor Speaks Out About That Unthinkable Day, What He's Learned, How He's Struggled, and What No One Should Ever Forget by Michael Benfante

Author:Michael Benfante [Benfante, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biographies & Memoirs, Historical, United States, Memoirs, History, Americas, State & Local, Politics & Social Sciences, Politics & Government, Specific Topics, Terrorism, 21st Century, Mid-Atlantic
ISBN: 1616082852
Amazon: B005JDD5UA
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2011-08-11T07:00:00+00:00

Friday, September 21, 2001

I got through my first full week in the new office.

On Friday night, September 21, I’m sitting on the couch with Joy at my parents’ house. We’re watching TV. I’m tense, mind racing, saying little. We flip through channels, but every network is showing this huge, live telethon called America: A Tribute to Heroes. The event was raising money for victims and families of victims of 9/11. In America, the telethon was simulcast by over thirty-five network and cable channels, broadcast on over eight thousand radio stations, and streaming on the Internet. You couldn’t turn on any device you owned without seeing or hearing it.

My phone rings again. It’s the people from the telethon. They don’t want money. They want permission to use my name. I didn’t know what they were asking, exactly. Did they want to mention it when they called people for donations? Did they think I needed money? But yeah, sure, OK, I said.

Joy and I were enjoying the show. Various celebrities came on, one after the other, telling about different poignant and powerful things that happened on the day, and then a song was performed after the telling of each inspiring story. I was gripped by it. I felt connected to every story they told. It was really beautifully done. Then Jim Carrey came on. He told my story. He said my name and John Cerqueira’s name. He spoke about selflessness and being a hero and acts of kindness, how we put our lives at risk to save someone else. Enrique Iglesias followed him and sang “Hero.”

I was blown away. This was different from USA Today or the CBS news footage, which to me was all about news reporting. This wasn’t People magazine, where the writer knew Tina Hansen’s husband. This was ten days later. To be singled out on this kind of show, running on every network—I mean, the words “Oh my god” flew out of my mouth.

That elevated things. It became clear to me that our story was circulating in the national oxygen. It started to sink in. First, President Bush, and now this. My story was positive. It carried a positive message that we—the country, the victims, the survivors—could all be proud of. I sat there on the couch with my fiancée and my parents, and I felt proud of it. This is who we really are. That’s what I really saw in the Tower and on the ground. That worked for me. It released a good feeling in me.

You see, as much as everyone was patting me on the back, I was not having too many good feelings on Friday, September 21, 2001. I was having nightmares. I said nothing about it to anyone, but underneath my stony silence, I was shaky. Hearing the president refer to me seven days after 9/11, and then being singled out during a national telethon three days after that gave me hope. I had no answers, but those two things pushed open a

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