Aaron Stein is president of and owner of insurance firm Norton and Siegel, Inc., and lifelong Babylon Village resident. He also serves as the Zone 24-32 E-Communications Coordinator at Rotary International. He founded the popular and well-read AroundBabylon Facebook page in 2003.
In September 2001 I had just become District Governor for Rotary of Suffolk County. Rotary's overall goal is world peace and understanding, and I had spent the previous three plus years training to help clubs work on projects locally and around the world to promote peace.
In fact we had been planning a 'Peace Conference' in the Spring of 2002 but now were doing so in an atmosphere of war and fear.
To me, simply put, 9/11 changed the way I felt about everything, but in particular about the future direction the world is taking.
We all knew people who had perished in the towers. My business partner's son escaped from the second tower just moments before the collapse.
When history is written, I think 9/11 will be cited as a turning point. Let's all hope the turn is in the right direction.
