Joe Crowley: “I was not here in Washington 6 years ago this evening. I was stuck in New York. Because of such bad weather, we couldn't…”

“I was not here in Washington 6 years ago this evening. I was stuck in New York. Because of such bad weather, we couldn't get out of New York. I was forced to be on a plane the next morning. At 9:10 in the morning I was two planes from take-off at La Guardia, speaking about the Port Authority of New York, when we were informed the plane would be turned around and brought back to the terminal because of the attacks of two planes on the World Trade Center in New York. In many respects my thoughts are, life goes on. We see it all around us. Life does go on, but it doesn't diminish the loss that we all suffered on that fateful day 6 years ago, as a Nation, as to me as a New Yorker, more personally for me, as my first cousin Battalion Chief John Moran who was killed that day. Though on that day we saw the ugliest side of humankind, we also saw the brilliance of the human spirit, of the American spirit, and, if you allow me to say, the spirit of New York.”