Dealing with the horror in ‘generous, intelligent and life-affirming terms’published at 16:21 BST
16:21 BST
Tom Brook
Presenter, Talking Movies
BBC presenter Tom Brook was part of the New York news bureau in 2001 and recalls with admiration how a colleague dealt with the loss of his brother in the attack on the World Trade Center.
On 11 September, 2001, I was in Canada covering the Toronto International Film Festival. With us as part of our small BBC Talking Movies team was Andrew Rice, a very gifted and likeable video journalist. His 31-year-old brother, David Harlow Rice, worked for the investment banking firm Sandler O’Neill on the 104th floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center. He was one of more than 60 employees from the firm who died that day.
In Toronto, I remember the agony Andrew experienced endlessly calling David’s mobile phone and just getting voicemail. I felt pretty helpless trying to comfort him. They found his brother’s body pretty soon after he returned to New York a day or so later.
Looking back, I take great inspiration from how Andrew responded to his brother’s death. It wasn’t all smooth sailing, but he left Talking Movies and New York and returned to his native Oklahoma, got married, and then got elected as a state senator. He served for six years. He’s gone on, by all accounts, to live a very full and productive life – a life which has been characterised by a healthy concern for injustice.
Now I work out of the BBC News bureau in New York, close to the World Trade Center site.
Every time 11 September comes around I think of Andrew and I admire his strength. He ultimately dealt with the horror of 9/11 in generous, intelligent and life-affirming terms. That he was able to do this serves as a great example to us all. It will always inspire and stay with me.