1st World Trade Center Bombing ~ 22-Years Ago ~ 02/26/1993 to 02/26/2015

1^st WTC Bombing: 22^nd Anniversary of February 26^th, 1993

                                                            Photo-John Grcic

This week is the 22nd Anniversary of the first World Trade Center (WTC) Bombing Attack.  On Thursday good people of all faiths will gather in small Downtown Manhattan churches to quietly honor family members, fellow commuters and how they lived before they were savagely silenced without a moment's notice in 1993. 

Do you remember where you were standing when this particular attack on our nation took place?   Oddly enough, most people do not. 

On February 26th 1993, followers of ‘Blind Sheikh’ Omar Abdel Rahman of Egypt and Jersey City blew a breathtaking 10-story gaping hole inside the World Trade Center using explosives placed in a U-Haul truck they had rented from a gas station at the foot of the Bayonne Bridge on Kennedy Boulevard in New Jersey.  They operated undetected between this location and a storage facility on Route 440 as they executed the first phase of their plan.

Their aggressive terror goal was to use an underground parking garage under the World Trade Center to wreak havoc on U.S. soil inside the economic capital of the world while killing you, me and any Westerner in their path. 

Their extended plan to drown thousands more of us on this same day inside the NYC subways by puncturing a hole in the Army Corps of Engineers wall which holds back the Hudson River on the West Side of Manhattan failed that morning. 

At the time it didn't feel like America was paying much attention and some of us who lived and worked in this corridor of the Tri-State area were worried that enough people had not fully grasped the magnitude of what this event meant to our region and our nation's health, welfare and security. 

Twenty-two years after this bombing, we remain convinced we were right.

In the end, the first World Trade Center attack left only 6 dead and 1,042 injured, and the terrorists vowed to come again.  On September 11th, 2001 Islamic Extremists finished the job Sheikh Abdel-Rahman tactically managed, launched and started not in the shadows but in broad daylight on both sides of the Hudson River in the years leading up to 1993.

People who know me know that I stood with a handful of commuters on the deck of a SeaStreak Commuter Ferry in the middle of New York Harbor - a working mom grasping my husband's hand petrified and helpless as the ‘enormity of horror’ called 9/11 played out. 

For us a dangerous phenomenon that had our full attention in 1993 had returned with a vengeance before our eyes and there was nothing left to do but pray in the middle of NY Bay as our captain raced to pick up the first 300 people fleeing for their lives at Pier 11 on the East River. 

From Downtown NYC to the Atlantic Highlands the SeaStreak crew helped lead a remarkable 9/11 recovery effort that would later become known as the largest boatlift in human history, (BOATLIFT, An Untold Tale of 9/11 Resilience -www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDOrzF7B2Kg - Narrated by Tom Hanks). - It was a commute from hell that transcended time, place and comprehension. 

As our navigation route took us to the south-east side of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, a blinding mushroom cloud erased our magnificent and incredible towers as they succumbed to the terrors of our society.

Then, a fellow passenger screamed out that the Pentagon had been hit! 

There we were - a few hundred passengers on a simple commuter ferry alarmed, dazed and stunned, some with tears streaming, some with more fear than others - all of us frozen-and-bound together by a silence louder than any voice we had ever heard. It was the voice of "terrorism." 

How did we arrive at this terrible place in our country's history is the question that never leaves me… 

For years as I hustled to my job in Hudson County as a Recruitment Director at ADP Brokerage Services Group, the infamous Blind Sheikh sat a mere arms-length from me and all commuters on a cement wall in the open square (Journal Square, Jersey City) surrounded by dozens of doting and adoring followers - all men in their young twenties - dressed in traditional garb.  They would arrive daily by NJ Path Train from across the Tri-State region to circle at the Sheikh's feet.

Across the street from my office was a make-shift mosque one floor up from the Chinese restaurant in Journal Square, Jersey City.  For years, hundreds of men operated daily as ‘welcome friends’ in this neighborhood as they made their way to this temporary location for afternoon prayers. 

After the 1993 WTC Attack, it was confirmed that this exact spot of worship had been hijacked and abused as a camouflaged safe house by Sheikh Abdel-Rahman who used it to advise a few hand-picked pupils on how to conspire to harm and murder others. It was the Blind Sheikh – an Islamic Extremist - who left the beautiful embracing arms of Jersey City brutally broke at the elbows on the boulevard.

After the 1993 bombing was carried out, followers cheered inside clandestine hallways across New York and New Jersey; others did the same openly to honor the Blind Sheik's leadership, conquest and success.  It hurt, but few noticed. 

On and after 9/11, the world watched more dancing in the streets across the globe as crowds burned American flags in a symbolic salute honoring the hatred that resulted in the cold blooded killing of 3,000 more innocent victims on the U.S. homeland.  But... through it all the strength and resilience of the American people was never far behind.  

This Thursday family members and friends of America's 1993 victims will take their somber trip to Lower Manhattan mostly alone, but once again this year they will be able to run their fingers across the names of loved ones that are now etched for eternity in marble and granite at the WTC Memorial Site. 

Those who died represent you and me - all of us who travelled through the World Trade Center complex to get to work or NYC culture in those days. 

Some of those injured are still working to repair the physical and emotional wounds so they can one day move on… 

In a twist of fate not to be believed a few who were injured but miraculously survived in 1993 ended up living 8 more years only to be injured or killed in the second wave of hatred and violence on 9/11.         

For many of us living and working in the urban trenches across this region these experiences altered our lives, attitudes, thinking and shattered our sense of security forever... 

Events like this are supposed to do that, but as a teenager I fortunately encountered the most engaging history teacher of my life - the amazing David Oxenford at Pt. Pleasant Beach High School - who taught students it was a civic duty and our awesome responsibility to research, learn, face, assess, reassess, remember and respect history. 

As difficult as it is to relive these events, thanks to Mr. Oxenford I remain focused on what happened more than two decades ago… 

I believe reciting the events of February 26th 1993 is the best way to honor the 6 commuters who were murdered and 1,042 injured. ~ How and why they were selected and killed by Islamic Extremists must always matter. 

I left Mr. Oxenford’s classroom knowing full well that a failure to understand history and its reach and/or to participate in ‘collective apathy’ always creates conditions and opportunities for 'all' history to repeat itself. 

Here we all are in 2015, living the reality of history’s warning twenty-two years after the 1^st WTC Bombing.  The Islamic State (ISIS) is hidden in plain sight creating new Killing Fields across the globe...

It’s important to tell you that the Blind Sheikh was mostly invisible to us in Jersey City… until he and his followers came out of the shadows to kill us on February 26^th, 1993.

~ May God Bless America on this 22^nd Anniversary & always.

From Wikipedia

The 1993 World Trade Center bombing occurred on February 26, 1993, when a truck bomb was detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The 1,500 lb (680 kg) urea nitrate–hydrogen gas enhanced device[1] was intended to knock the North Tower (Tower One) into the South Tower (Tower Two), bringing both towers down and killing thousands of people.[2][3] It failed to do so, but did kill six people and injured 1,042.

The attack was planned by a group of conspirators including Ramzi Yousef, Mahmud Abouhalima, Mohammad Salameh, Nidal A. Ayyad, Abdul Rahman Yasin and Ahmad Ajaj. They received financing from Khaled Shaikh Mohammed, Yousef's uncle. In March 1994, four men were convicted of carrying out the bombing: Abouhalima, Ajaj, Ayyad and Salameh. The charges included conspiracy, explosive destruction of property and interstate transportation of explosives. In November 1997, two more were convicted: Yousef, the mastermind behind the bombings, and Eyad Ismoil, who drove the truck carrying the bomb

A Calling to Deliver 'The Dream' - NJ's Charlie Brady & Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Pt. Pleasant Foundation for Excellence in Education honored Charles A. Brady and inducted him into the 10th Annual Hall of Fame on Friday, March 9th as a 2007 Community Leader Award Recipient.

 In the 1960’s, on the inside flap of a book entitled, “My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr.,” Coretta Scott King sent the following handwritten note to Mr. Brady, “Charley - With deep appreciation for your concern and support of those ideals of love, justice, truth, peace and brotherhood. May our common efforts hasten the day when Martin’s dream will be realized. Coretta Scott.” 

In discussing the selection of Mr. Brady for this award, Foundation President, Dr. Rob Coombs, “Our members are in awe of Mr. Brady’s background and the ideals he lived for over four decades. We are honored to highlight the life of this local resident and extraordinary humanitarian.” 

Mr. Brady’s commitment to children and his efforts as a peacemaker, promoting nonviolence and equal treatment for all races caught the attention and gained the support of Dr. and Mrs. Martin Luther King, Jr. early on – a relationship of mutual respect and friendship between the King Family and Mr. Brady dates back to 1965. He would later author a biography on Dr. King for the National Catholic Encyclopedia. 

Mr. Brady, a Certified Financial Planner since 1981, graduated from St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark where he won 2nd place in the NJ State Wrestling Championship. After graduating from Seton Hall University in 1958, he served as an assistant to the vice president of a major gas corporation. Mr. Brady’s strong desire to help others led him out of Corporate America and into the Immaculate Conception Seminary where he was ordained a priest in 1966. 

He served in several black communities in New Jersey, while assigned assistant pastor of Holy Spirit Church and St. Peter Claver Church in Orange and Montclair. Among his many accomplishments, he taught Dr. King’s nonviolent philosophy to black youth, and established athletic teams that won 3 national championships in 8 years. Mr. Brady’s efforts as an educator, coach, mentor and father figure inspired many of his students to become athletes and stars in college; and most became productive members of their communities.

Mr. Brady was a guest of Dr. King at the Southern Christian Leadership Convention; he had also been a guest in the King home; and often represented Mrs. King at functions in New Jersey. Mr. Brady’s commitment to civil rights during this volatile time in the country’s history was met with resistance in some circles in NJ and as a result, Mr. Brady was forced to repel a mob mentality that was behind a no-holds-barred effort to remove him from the important work of his parish. 

Mr. Brady prevailed and he again found strength and support in the words of Mrs. King when she wrote in a letter dated, August 30th, 1968, “Dear Charley, ... the trouble you described in the Newark school was in many ways painfully familiar… it certainly requires more love, courage and strength to prevail and endure than it does to retaliate in kind. Your courage and determination to lovingly demonstrate the nonviolent brotherhood so desperately needed in the world is a source of inspiration and encouragement… With love, Coretta.”

Mr. Brady lives the tenets of courage and encouragement everyday. Beyond the establishment of the youth sports teams that won 3 national championships, he also helped kids, who could count on his commitment to them, win 4 eastern championships, 8 state championships, and 23 count championships. He established and coordinated an alternative high school in Orange, NJ for students who could not learn within a normal structured environment. No matter what the challenges, Mr. Brady worked tirelessly to build confidence by inspiring each kid one unique student at a time. He helped every child find a place to contribute something meaningful because his experiences proved to him that every child had something meaningful to share.

A year after resigning from the priesthood, Mr. Brady met his wife Carmie. A year later they married and had three sons: Matthew, Scott and Patrick, all of whom were exceptional athletes and graduates of Pt. Pleasant Borough High School. When Carmie Brady passed away from cancer @ age 50 on May 21, 2004, Mr. Brady and his sons decided her spirit would live on through a not for profit organization called The Carmie Brady Foundation which is dedicated to improving the lives of children and adults facing cancer and other devastating illnesses. 

The Foundation - carmiebradyfoundation.com - has successfully raised hundreds of thousands of dollars. "The Brady Bunch" Walk for the Cure Team is 500 volunteers strong and growing. This remarkable family has committed to raising $20,000 a year for five years to support the Carmie Brady Room at Hope Lodge. Hope Lodge is a beautiful building located in the heart of New York City, which is sponsored by the American Cancer Society. Cancer patients from all over the world can stay at the lodge free of charge while they are receiving treatment at any hospital in New York. 

After receiving his CFP designation, Mr. Brady taught the course at Monmouth College. He established Associated Financial Planners, in 1982. Matt and Scott are partners in the business along with Robert Clayton, another Pt. Pleasant Borough graduate. Patrick was an NCAA Division III All-American Wrestler and graduated from the College of New Jersey in May, 2007.  Following his dad's lead, he became a dedicated teacher and coach.

Mr. Brady’s biography has appeared in Who’s Who in the World and Who’s Who in the East. He has appeared on CNBC’s Money Talk and other TV programs. He is a 30 year member of the Elk’s Handicapped Children Committee and was 2003 Shillelagh of the year for the Friendly Sons of the Shillelagh, a club that has given over $300,000 to local charities and families. He is on the Presidential Advisory Committee of USAllianz, Franklin Templeton Funds, Hartford, and ING. He was also named to “America’s Best Financial Planners” by the Consumer’s Research Council of America in 2006.

In 2003, this past President of the Sea Girt Chamber of Commerce was selected NJ State Businessman of the Year by the National Congressional Committee; he has founded organizations dedicated to supporting people in the field of Financial Planning and he has been a contributor to countless other local organizations including: Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, Friends of Manasquan VFW, “Think Tub” - a group dedicated to raising funds for sick children; and he is a loyal repeat sponsor of the Pt. Pleasant Athletic Boosters Association and the Pt. Pleasant Foundation for Excellence in Education.

In conclusion, Dr. Coombs adds, “Mr. Brady’s mentor, Dr. King, often called for “personal responsibility” in fostering peace. The personal responsibility displayed by Mr. Brady throughout his life honors Dr. King’s legacy and all of us in untold ways. We are thrilled to induct a humanitarian and citizen of Mr. Brady’s caliber into the Hall of Fame.” 

************ 

On a final note, I know champions and winners when I meet them or interview them because I've had the privilege to live among them and to work next to individuals like Mr. Brady all my life. How about you? Are there people who set the standards for excellence in your life? If so, don't forget Brian Molko's quote: "Imitation is the highest form of flattery." Let's imitate Charlie Brady and offer some help.

#1 Killer of Women: A Lesson From Mom

By Tish Ferguson @ TishTrek

February, 2015 

February is American Heart Month and 2015 is the 12th Anniversary of Go Red For Women Day! Don’t forget to celebrate all the women in your life!

On February 2nd, I lit up my Jersey City office in a radiant red outfit in a symbolic gesture to show support for the fight against THE #1 killer of women - heart disease! I did it for my beloved mother and to celebrate women everywhere.

Twelve years ago this horrible disease erupted in a final heart attack which silenced my mom's incredible voice and closed her gorgeous blue eyes forever.

Perhaps this year her story can save the life of someone else's mom, daughter, sister, wife, aunt, cousin or friend as we finally use our courage to talk a few important women's health issues through?

How many anniversaries do women have to statistically miss before we realize it's time to put a big neon sign on every package of cigarettes with a warning label that reads, "Using this product to indulge in this particular repeat behavior has a good chance of putting you in a Medical Center where doctors will break open your chest cavity while they put you on a heart-lung machine so your heart can keep a beat with the help of technology while they clear your clogged arteries?"

The last instruction on the warning should read, "Please take a moment to think about the millions of women who used this product and whose lives were cut short by 16 years before you make the choice to send nicotine-induced plaque through your own system! Now you may proceed to the cash register."

Mom grew up in the 'Salutatory Age of Smoking' - meaning smoking was welcomed as an acceptable & highly fashionable habit which was picked up by her and millions of other American teenagers & young adults in the 1940's, 1950's and beyond…

This act was greeted as some kind of tribal right-of-passage that everyone went through on their way to adulthood. And okay - let's join the chorus... Big Tobacco's marketing, advertising & branding campaigns were the best Madison Avenue had to offer in those days, but in the end even that Madison Avenue hunk - 'The Marlboro Man' - died of cancer.

Some people can stop smoking without a moment's notice or on a dime as some would say. For others - like mom - they could engage in a lifetime-of-trying and still fail at kicking the habit. We all know people in this category.

My wide eyes were fixated on her beautiful silhouette throughout my elementary school years and I mostly saw the strongest and smartest woman I had ever known. By 8th grade, mom had all of us convinced we could become President of the United States if we put our minds to it and worked hard. I never once noticed the outline of a cigarette in her hand. 

In our house, eight kids certainly made for a lot of mouths and egos to feed, but mom made herself available to be everybody else's rock too. She was that special woman so many people turned to and called for help. And yes - I mean "everyone" - including friends, friends of friends, colleagues, cousins, strangers and foes alike!

If you knew the number of teenagers who turned to the embrace and warmth of my parents for loving support between the 1960's and 1980's or counted how many of them actually lived in or dined with us at our home - your definition of "selfless" would be altered forever.

That term "selfless" would stay with mom until the day she died in 2003. Twelve years have passed, so I guess it's okay to ask if being selfless is actually a healthy choice at all times? In the early years, it never dawned on me that perhaps she never left enough time or energy to focus on herself...

In 1984 my father - her husband of 32 years - was killed in a tragic car accident which made her a widow at age 51 with kids still at home.  Through her grief, she fought with determination and resolve to become a top real estate broker in our region and she succeeded.  

This focused effort was for financial survival but she also managed to leave an indelible example for her kids and grandkids.  We saw for ourselves that a person can rise up out of the worst of circumstances and prevail as long as they didn't give up.  

"How did she do it?" I started wondering when my own children arrived. At times, could it be that exhaustion, bad news and life's challenges impacted the quality of her life, stamina and will power? Was her smoking habit event-driven?  Did she find comfort in her cigarettes?  On all counts - of course she did. 

I've figured out that logic tells women one thing; but life's challenges, demands, stress and our own emotions beat to a drum that can take all of us off the proverbial cliff if we're not careful! So why don't we all take better care of ourselves?

What happened to the airline rule of putting the oxygen mask on ourselves first before assisting others? An instruction so simple to think about, but so difficult for most women to achieve.

What I do know is that my mom waged a 40-year valiant and silent battle that didn't feel like anyone else's business until I lost her when she was only 69 years old.  I make it a point to 'Go Red' just for mom because her story can help other women and their families not only during American Heart Month but for the rest of their lives.

I remember mom wearing the nicotine patches, literally smoking pipes and cigars, attending hypnosis & smoking cessation courses with a friend named Jude at the community college, chewing that special gum, and submersing entire cartons of cigarettes in wastebaskets of water to banish the tangible temptation from our home. Each effort was short-lived. Nothing worked. But she never ever stopped trying.

In the 1960's & 1970's she was ahead of her time as she exercised-for-endorphins to the greatest hits of Herb Albert & the Tijuana Brass - that was before there were ever aerobic classes in any neighborhood! My love affair with brass instruments started because mom used them as a backdrop to jump-start these moments to good health and actions designed to make a difference. Sadly priorities - other than her own - always got in the way.

She walked the Pt. Pleasant Beach Boardwalk with the best of friends and relatives seeking inspiration and motivation; she cleaned our house like a fiend to eliminate all smells & signs of smoke, (I'm talking wall washing & windows open in winter!). She literally hated the smell of cigarette smoke.

When I put all her efforts into one paragraph a few years ago, the reality screamed at me that "she had fought hard" so it's no wonder she would warn all her grandchildren before she died to navigate away from this deadly habit and product that required bringing fire from a match close to her radiant face every single day.

As I anxiously waited for her to survive through seven vascular surgeries of the legs, neck and beyond, followed by quadruple open heart surgery and abdominal aortic surgery, the painful reality regarding the power of nicotine could not be more clear. It mostly controls you including when and how you'll die.

One unbelievable moment of clarity arrived without warning or a label to prepare me. My mother requested I drive her straight to a 7-11 store for cigarettes as the first stop from open heart surgery @ Jersey Shore Medical Center to home. The request left me breathless and defeated.

I didn't want to; and I knew others would have made a different decision, but I did it. Mom was sitting in my car with a heart-shaped pillow protecting the giant incision up-and-down her chest and she was suffering. My gosh - It had been hard enough to watch her in this struggle with herself when she was strong, so pushing back when she was physically weak was not an option that morning.

After I purchased those cigarettes, I could feel my heart silently screaming in pain because it felt as if the razor-sharp scalpels used to save mom's life had just etched a message in my gut that I knew one day I was supposed to write for her: "Don't do as she did; just don't smoke!"