Grateful for every loved one

A picture of the Twin Towers aflame in the Manhattan skyline hangs on a wall in Lyle Davis’ office.

The picture, taken from a man standing next to the Newport Beach resident at the Hudson River as they watched the towers fall, reminds Davis of what’s important in his life.

“No matter how bad things are, you take a glimpse up there and bam, ‘I can get through this. I can be a better person,’ ” Davis tells himself. “I think I’ve become a different person ... more compassionate, I certainly realize that every day we’re here is a bonus. I think I’ll feel that way the rest of my life.

“I think the impact of 9/11 will be with me forever, both positively and negatively, and I’m grateful for that.”

The impact of 9/11 has lessened over the years for many, but for those who witnessed it, or lost someone in the attacks on the Pentagon or on Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania, it’s something they say they will carry with them always.

While Davis was across the river watching, along with a throng of media as the towers collapsed, Newport Beach resident and Davis’ close friend Rob Stewart, 42, was a building away when the second plane hit.

Stewart had a business meeting scheduled in one of the towers, on the 90th or 92nd floor at 8:30 that morning, and would have been in the building when the planes crashed, he said. Instead, it was rescheduled for a nearby office.

“The second plane literally went whizzing right past our building, from behind us,” Stewart said. “When that thing hit, our building shook, it was like a bomb. That thing went by at 100 yards away.”

In 2002, the Daily Pilot originally told Stewart and Davis’ story and how they met for the first time that day, and how they, along with Newport Beach resident Scott Ramser, were forever linked.

For Stewart, not a lot has changed in how he felt then and now.

“I still choke up a little bit about it. I think it was a very important moment because it put everything in perspective,” Stewart said. “You know, when you see people burning, splatting, dying, others wondering if they’re husband, wife, mom, dad is coming home from work, I refer a lot of it to putting my life in perspective.”

Davis was among many who craved revenge in the immediate aftermath.

He told the Daily Pilot in 2002 that he would not find closure until Osama Bin Laden was dead and Saddam Hussein was out of power.

“I remember talking about war with Iraq. That was the thing to do, to teach somebody a lesson,” he said.

“With the amount of time that’s passed, with the amount of lives lost, I certainly wouldn’t go down that path again.”

Davis realizes now that while Hussein was “a wicked man,” he was not involved in the 9/11 plot.

And while the United States still has not captured 9/11 mastermind Osama Bin Laden, for Davis, it does not consume him anymore. The true impact, he said, was on his newfound appreciation for life, which remains just as strong seven years later.

Seven years later the memories are still raw for some. Daphne Hart, the American Red Cross of Orange County communications director, was working with the Army that day and arrived at Ground Zero days after.

“I will never forget that smell when you got into Manhattan,” Hart said. “You knew what you were smelling, and you didn’t want to think about it.”

Hart was at Fort Monmouth in New Jersey that morning. The base there was coincidentally running a drill on their response to a simulated Al Qaeda attack orchestrated by Osama Bin Laden, she said.

“There must’ve been 40 people in this room watching the monitors when the second plane hit. There was disbelief and confusion. Most thought it was a replay [of the first plane], they didn’t realize,” Hart said. “When the first building collapsed, it was just, people drawing in breaths, and just ... The silence you never forget.

“It’s a day to call your loved ones, it’s a reminder to let people we care about know how much we loved them.”

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at [email protected].