I have heard of people with photographic memory or eidetic memory and always wondered how they do it. It is an amazing feat that the brain can remember every moment of a person’s life. I believe I have a better understanding of it today than I did 14 years ago. Maybe it just takes an act so horrific, that our brain remembers and recalls every moment during that time. Everyone over the age of 30 can remember every moment of a day 14 years ago. I speak of September 11, 2001. A day that every person I know can tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing when the world stood still.

I remember growing up, my father telling me a story of his father, my grandfather, could tell him every single moment of his life on December 7, 1941. His recollection of trivial events seemed so foreign to me. Why would he remember what he was doing versus the actual attack on Pearl Harbor? Then came 911 and I now understand why.

It was a beautiful fall morning to start my commute from my Franklin, TN home to my Brentwood, TN office in the southern suburbs of Nashville, TN. I flipped over the radio station to talk radio to try to catch a traffic report to see what I was in store for driving into work. The local station was not reporting but a New York City station was being simulcast stating a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I immediately called my wife and told her to turn on the news, some idiot crashed a plane into one of the twin towers. She turns on the set and begins to describe the scene to me, when she screamed like I had never heard her scream before as the second plane flew into Tower Two. My thoughts immediately went from an idiot pilot to Dear God, we are under attack. By now, I have made it to my office parking lot, and she wanted to call school for our kids. I ran inside and rigged a piece of mirror wire to the back of a TV we used for training videos to watch this horrific scene. The day ran on with more fear and uncertainty. Planes stacked up overhead as air travel was suspended and all planes were forced to land. I remember feeling angry, sad, anxious and frightened all at the same time. My 9:30am interview showed up but neither of us had any interest in our daily work that day. Lorraine, I still remember, asked if it would be okay to reschedule our interview, as she beat me to it. I did later hire her and she became a good agent for us. I remember fielding a lot of phone calls from my agents, our insurance company and friends and family members trying to sort out in our minds what just happened to Our Country.

The power of our brain is one of the most powerful forces on earth. Our memories of 911 prove to us 14 years later how much capacity for memory and recall we really have in our brains. If we learned to harness and control this power, imagine the possibilities of our lives and what we could all accomplish. Where were you on 911?

“We will not waver; we will not tire; we will not falter, and we will not fail. Peace and Freedom will prevail”.—George W. Bush

Image by ddpavumba images at www.freedigitalphotos.net

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Tim Wilhoit is owner/principal of Your Friend 4 Life Insurance Agency in Nashville, TN. He is a family man, father of 3, entrepreneur, insurance agent, life insurance broker, salesman, sales trainer, recruiter, public speaker, blogger, author and team leader with over 28 years of experience in sales and marketing in the insurance and beverage industries.