Those who suffer emerge united and stronger

My memories of 9/11 remain crystal clear.

As acting editor on the South Wales Echo in Cardiff I was in the middle of a senior management team strategy afternoon when the managing director’s PA politely came into the boardroom and informed us there had been a security incident in New York.

We thanked her for letting us know and continued.

Within a minute my assistant editor was through the door with a far greater sense of urgency and suggested I return to the newsroom immediately.

It was there I discovered the sheer horror of the ‘incident’.

Our editions for the day had gone but we informed the press and hurriedly worked on a special late edition which was out in the streets within no time.

We then stripped out all the work we had done for the following day’s paper and effectively started again.

That night I remember returning home and not moving from the sofa until the early hours, mesmerised by the rolling news reports.

Back in the office the next day we struggled to divert our attention from the newsroom TVs as more details and footage emerged of the attacks, the heroism of those who went to help out and the huge loss of life.

This attack and all subsequent outrages — London, Manchester, Paris, Brussels, Nice, Christchurch…. unfortunately the list goes on — has taught us one thing. The people and communities who suffer the most emerge united and stronger and good will always prevail over evil.