9/11 And The Power Of The Boss
It's almost cliché at this point, but everyone remembers where they were during the early hours of September 11th, 2001. For myself, I was just your average ignorant/dumbass high school student going through the motions of a normal Tuesday morning. Legitimately the biggest thing on my mind at that point was getting ready for the absolutely stacked Pottstown football team that Friday night (we lost by no less than 40). And then, everything changed. Like most people when the tragedy unfolded, I was shocked and saddened by the horrific events. Even angry. But for the most part, after awhile, life went relatively back to normal for myself, my family, and friends.
Also that morning, about 10 miles away in the wonderful land of Delco, my future wife and mother to our children, Christa, was a 9-year-old carefree girl who really wasn't in the mood to go to school. Enter her 6'3, All-American specimen of a father, Michael, who always knew what to say to get her going. The standout college QB, Marine KC-130 (Hercules) Pilot, and First Officer (co-pilot) for United Airlines always called home before taking off on his flights. The conversation was lighthearted and fun, per usual for the 38-year-old married father of two. He started by singing a song to Christa and getting her instantly to smile. From there, the phone was passed to her 6-year-old brother, Mick. Michael started singing again to the point where the Captain of the flight, 51-year-old Navy Pilot Victor Saracini, played a practical joke and put the loudspeaker on for the cabin to overhear. Everyone on that plane would hear the beauty of a father Michael Horrocks signing to his children. It was a moment of pure joy and love shared between every single passenger on that flight. Mick was laughing hysterically thinking it was the funniest thing ever, and just like that, Christa was up, happy, and ready to go to school. The conversation between Michael and his children ended with the usual "I love you to the moon and back", and then to Mir, "I love you, I'll call you when I land in LA."
Within an hour, terrorists took over Michael's United Airlines Flight 175, diverted from its original course to LAX, and became the second plane to strike the World Trade Center.
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During the attacks of 9/11, Bruce Springsteen was sitting at his breakfast table in New Jersey before heading to the living room to watch the catastrophe live on TV. There were people in and out through the course of the day, but towards the afternoon Bruce left his home and traveled North about 20 miles to get a view of what would become Ground Zero. It was there at a bridge an unknown driver drove by Springsteen and shouted one thing, "Bruce, we need you."
The following year, Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band released their first album in almost two decades, "The Rising".
A full, magnificent breakdown of the record can be found here, but anyone who listens to the songs can feel the impact of 9/11. The title song "The Rising" is about a firefighter who narrates his last day then finally his last seconds on earth. Pay attention to it on this day and try to hold it all in:
Listen to those lyrics and imagine that's your father or mother or brother or sister or best friend….or child…
Imagine it was you.
"The Rising" is considered a critical and commercial success, but the impact has been so much more meaningful than most can comprehend. Here's a great interview from 2002 with Bruce explaining his thoughts in his own words:
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Understandably, the immediate days and months following September 11th, 2001 were extraordinarily harrowing for the young Horrocks family. Depression, the media, stalkers, isolation, therapy, bullying - you name it and the local "9/11 Family" had to deal with all the unwelcomed collateral damage that went along with their rock of the family being taken away.
There were also numerous examples of compassion and love shown towards the family. Neighbors and friends came together to finish the Horrocks' front walkway, a project Michael had started before his passing. An Aunt moved in full-time to assist with the day-to-day dynamics a young family requires. Generous Americans donated graciously to the children's education fund. Meals, thoughtful messages, memories of Michael, hope and overall love came pouring the family's way. Both faith and faith in humanity were very present in the days after 9/11.
Still, it was obviously an extremely distressing time most people couldn't ever be able to comprehend. Mir was essentially in shock and some days struggled to get out of bed. Christa, basically overnight, was forced in many ways to end her childhood and become essentially an adult. Mick would at times struggle with the enormity of the devastation. The first year was for sure the most anguishing for everyone.
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Bruce Springsteen was always a big staple in the Horrocks' home. In fact, all family weddings are required to end the night with "Rosalita" under threat of immediate divorce. The last concert Mir and Michael went to together was Bruce & The E-Street Band's reunion tour in '99. So when Springsteen dropped his album "The Rising" in late July of 2002, the family had the record playing pretty much 24/7. The music was cathartic and offered a tremendous source of solace. If Bruce truly wrote this album for a divine reason, that reason would be it to comfort the Horrocks family.
Christa distinctly remembers predicting what kind of mood the day would be solely based on what song Mir led off with in the morning. If it was "Lonesome Day" with it's upbeat melody yet longing lyrics, it could go either way. If it was the powerful yet heartbreaking "Empty Sky" or "You're missing", it was game over. The day was gone before it started. "You're Missing", no matter how sadly beautiful it is, described what the Horrocks went through after losing Michael - to a T.
However, there was one song from that album that always ensured a bright day lie ahead. Predictably enough, the #3 song on the record: "Waitin' On A Sunny Day":
Like "My City Of Ruins", it was written pre-9/11 but took on a whole new meaning of life after that day. The entire song gives all the vibes of…hope. The upbeat and contagiously happy melody is instantly recognizable and the lyrics give a sense optimism to anyone who is grieving, depressed, or just needs a normal pick me up.
"It's raining, but there ain't a cloud in the sky, must've been a tear from your eye, everything will be OK…
Funny, I thought I felt the sweet Summer breeze, must've been you sighing so deep, don't worry we're gonna find a way…
I'm waitin' on a Sunny day, gonna chase the clouds away, waitin' on a Sunny day."
After listening to "The Rising" over the course of years, the Horrocks to this day say the album with "Waitin' On A Sunny Day", along with their faith, provided them with an enormous sense of comfort and hope. It was part of what saved them.
Great on Bruce for giving the Horrocks (and thousands of others) even a little comfort during such dark days. Just thinking of what was going through the minds of that young family will bring me to tears. Mir became a widow at 36-years-old with a 9-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son. I'm in my late-30's right now with two young children. Losing the love of my life and mother to our kids in any fashion would send me into a spiral I wouldn't know how I would go on. But for it to happen in such a world defining, catastrophic way is something for only the strongest souls can overcome. There was no escaping the tragedy, either, as images of the disasters are still shown on a daily basis 23 years later. Being reminded regularly of the horrific murder of one's husband, father, son, brother, and friend on such a calamitous stage is unimaginable.
Seriously. 2+ decades years later and this family still has to deal with and overcome the trauma from 9/11 on a regular basis. My wife still rightfully refuses to look at any image from that day, yet it's something that's borderline impossible to navigate through while being active on social media. Think about that. Just trying to live your life and all of a sudden there's another reminder of the most traumatic event in world history that's also intimately connected just to you. Only very few can even understand that level of sorrow, and even fewer can rise above it to find peace. There have even been instances where some have used elements of the Horrocks' likeness and story without even permission. Look at this intimate picture of the Horrocks family grieving at Michael's funeral and compare it to what's seen in the recent Jodie Foster movie, "The Mauritanian":
No permission. Zero privacy consideration. The only "Head's Up" that was given was by Michael's close Marine buddy (which Benjamin Cumberbatch's character was based) who obviously knew elements from the Horrocks family, specifically Miriam, would be used.
It's so, so, so heartbreaking this wonderful family has had to go so long with being stigmatized by the events of 9/11. My beautiful wife at various points in her life had an option to pursue modeling, was offered scholarships for multiple D1 sports, set records in college, but finally settled on earning a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine and becoming a loving mother of two heavenly boys. Mick was also a D1 athlete who is currently a medical doctor serving our country in the Navy while also engaged to be wed in 2025. Mir remarried to a wonderful, kind soul with 2 amazing children who also entered the family. This entire family is absolutely amazing and should never, ever be defined by this horrific day. After reading this for the first time, Mir only asked one thing to be added:
"In the face of evil, we chose love. Hope, faith, gratitude and love will always win in the end."
The Horrocks (now Horrocks-Isenberg) family are the definition of selfless in every sense of the word.
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Now, if you know me at all through the past 15 years at Barstool, you know we love The Boss. Bruce and the band have always been my #1 and I've been to almost a dozen concerts, including seeing him on Broadway (which was beyond incredible). However, Christa had never seen Springsteen & The E-Street Band live and it was always a life goal to see them perform. Unfortunately, seemingly every single time we tried to see them something would come up. Last year in the Summer of 2023, we finally got our tix locked and loaded for Philly for not one, but two nights. Unfortunately again, the 70+ year old Boss got some stomach issues and had to postpone the rest of his tour to 2024…with our shows falling exactly during an already booked family vaca to OBX in NC.
But life, uh, finds a way. On Wednesday, August 21st, the night Springsteen performed his first make up show in Philly, it was also the second straight day the ocean water was off limits in OBX. There were some serious rip currents from hurricanes doing their thing in the Atlantic and with two kids under the age of three who LOVE the water, that was certainly was not ideal. With the changing circumstances, the family decided to take the 8+ hr voyage back from North Carolina to the Philly area on Thursday instead of the normal checkout day of Saturday.
Sitting there on that Thursday night getting the fam settled back home, everyone was beyond exhausted. Once the kids went down and things got quiet, Christa looks at me and goes "We should do it." And I knew exactly what she was talking about. Within 5 min, tix to see Bruce and the band live the next night, Friday, August 23rd, were purchased. Of course we wanted to go, but it was almost like we were being called to attend for some specific reason. If anything, for us to escape a bit. Anyone who has "vacationed" with toddlers and babies knows it's anything but a relaxing endeavor, but it wasn't even that for us. Without getting into any details, the constant, seemingly 24/7 worrying over health concerns of our one son had been weighing on us for quite some time. We definitely needed a night.
And a night was certainly had. We got to the Bank about 15 min before they took the stage, got our brews, and we were ready for Bruce. It's safe to say the evening was incredible from the jump. Prove It All Night, Darkness On The Edge Of Town, the first time My Love Will Not Let You Down being played in America in forever. All gas, zero breaks. One after another for 3-4 hours. It's always an amazing treat to witness Bruce and the band doing the darn thing so well, especially at that age.
The 7th song featured a rousing rendition of "Hungry Heart", a sure fire sing-along jam (originally written for The Cure Ramones, btw). But then, the band went kinda quiet for the first time all night. You can tell Bruce was up to…something. The Boss was emphatically directing to the band, changing guitars, taking precious time to get the new tempo correct, even yelling for Little Steven to join him on the mic - it was very obvious they were changing to a different song on the setlist. Something that was way different than was initially planned as it required a lot of time and effort to get ready for the next jam. It almost looked as if Bruce got a signal or directive from a higher power to play a random, specific song and was possessed to get the E-Street Band ready.
Finally, Bruce and Miami Steve got cooking and after the first few distinguishable strums of the acoustic guitar, I was shook. Absolutely flabbergasted to the point my knees started to buckle. I turned to my wife and say, "Oh my God…it's Michael."
(Setlist Note: Rescheduled from 8/18/23. Darlington County, Streets of Philadelphia, and The River were on the printed setlist but not performed; Waitin' On A Sunny Day, Growin' Up, and I'm On Fire were not on the printed setlist.)
If you looked up at Section 205 at Citizen's Bank Park you would've seen two grown adults hugging and sobbing in each other's arms during the happy jam while the entire stadium was joyously singing. Now, up until that very moment, I wasn't exactly the biggest God guy in the world. Not exactly Godless, but I tended to believe there is a reasonable explanation for everything without attributing it to any divine intervention or supernatural event.
Not anymore. There's zero question in my mind Bruce changed to that song for Christa. Not a single doubt. There were simply too many coincidences for it not to be that. It was truly a lifetime of synchronicities that fell into place for that one moment in time:
- That fact the song was singular one to consistently uplift Christa and her family while consoling them after 9/11.
- The fact she had never seen him live but numerous circumstances led her - a year later after a cancelled show and from a scheduled vacation 8+ hrs away - to that specific concert where he played the song.
- The fact it wasn't even on the setlist and he AUDIBLED to "Waitin' On A Sunny Day", a song that he doesn't play that frequently live on top of it being a back-to-back, audience participation sing-along jam after "Hungry Heart".
Oh, and the fact that our one son's government name is Harrison, but since birth we've called him exclusively by his nickname…
Sonny.
It was a complete full circle, lifetime moment. An instant core memory in both our lives that we just knew, well, everything was going to be OK. That was Christa's father, our children's Pop Pop, reaching out and touching us through that song. We just knew. If I could (responsibly) put all the money in the world on it, I would. Not even a second thought. How am I so certain?
Well, all that worrying for over a year about our son's health, that very evening when we arrived home after the almost 4-hour concert and, I shit you not, we received almost all the confirmation we needed to alleviate major concerns for our boy. We knew he was not only going to be good, but perfect.
So, yeah, just realize no matter what's going on in life and how down things may be, take it from The Boss and keep waitin' on that sunny day - Everything's gonna be OK.
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#NeverForget is the generic theme/hashtag for remembering 9/11, but it's so much more than that. Many people are going to read this who were either too young to recall the day or weren't even born yet. Time passes and people naturally start to move on from the events and feelings from that morning. It's even become pretty much accepted to make light or a punchline of the day. But just understand for literally thousands of families who were affected that day, it never ends. Ever. And to be reminded and/or relive that trauma on an almost daily basis is some real evil stuff put upon a lot of extremely good people on this Earth. Christa was 9-years-old when she lost her Dad. Her brother, Mick, was left fatherless at 6. Her mother, Miriam, widowed at 36. Her grandparents lost their child and her Uncles and Aunt lost their brother. Our children will never meet the amazing man that is their paternal grandfather. Try to remember literally thousands of families are still being affected by the events of 9/11 and millions, if not billions around the world in the aftermath. Please be respectful.
RIP Michael Horrocks. I promise your grandchildren will Never Forget and love will always rise above. After all, the cream always rises to the top.
