9/11 is My Generation's Pearl Harbor

Yesterday marked the 10 year anniversary of 9/11.  Pictures, memories and stories came flooding back as I remembered exactly what I was doing, exactly where I was, the morning these unfortunate events happened.  Everyone has their story.  But for me, I was sleeping in my college dorm.  I was in the midst of my collegiate soccer days and our team was scheduled to fly to play an opponent the following day.


It was early when I received a phone call from my mom telling me to turn on the television.  I remember being in a haze and just completely out of it when she said "New York is under attack".  It took a second for me to grasp what was going on.  I remember thinking that my mom had to be exaggerating or confused, or just down right wrong.  The naive thinking, "Not in America" pierced my thoughts.

My roommate and I scurried down the dorm hall in our pajamas to the community area where the TV was.  Other students were already awake watching the tragic events.  Amidst an outrageous act of terrorism, that room was eerily quiet.  Some students sat there speechless with tears rolling down their face.  As others were walking in and out of the room trying to find out if loved ones had been heard from in New York.  And as I sat there with my mom on the phone, the second tower fell. 

Ten years later, as I remove my raw emotion from these events, I look at this from an insurance perspective.  According to the Insurance Journal, "For the global insurance and reinsurance industry the impact from 9/11 was substantial, amounting to insured losses of some $32.5 billion in today’s dollars. The event remains the second largest insured loss in history, second only to Hurricane Katrina losses which totaled some $45 billion."  Also passed after 9/11 was the federal Terrorism Risk Insurance Program, otherwise known as TRIA.  Coverage is either automatically included in your insurance policies or offered and you have the opportunity to accept or reject this coverage. 

The events that happened on 9/11 affected nearly every industry, every person and every city in America.  9/11 is my generation's Pearl Harbor.  I will never forget.