{"id":277461,"date":"2026-09-04T00:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T00:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/277461\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T00:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T00:54:11","slug":"mt-lebanon-man-rises-above-sept-11-tragedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/277461\/","title":{"rendered":"Mt. Lebanon man rises above Sept. 11 tragedy"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n
\n
\n \/bethel park
\n
\n <\/a>
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n

1 \/ 3<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Tom Etzel (right) of Mt. Lebanon is the author of \u201cWithin Our Grasp: Changing Ourselves and the World.\u201d He will speak on his journey past the Sept. 11 tragedy that took the lives of his niece and high school classmate at the Carnegie and Bethel Park libraries this week.<\/p>\n

2 \/ 3<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Tom Etzel chats with children. Etzel established the Global Peace Building Foundation in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.<\/p>\n

3 \/ 3<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Katie McCloskey, the niece of Tom Etzel, was working in the World Trade Center when it was attacked by terrorists flying planes into the buildings on Sept. 11, 2001.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

[expand]<\/p>\n

close
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n

On any ordinary day, not just on Sept. 11 anniversaries, Tom Etzel of Mt. Lebanon can wrestle with his feelings <\/p>\n

\u201cOut of the blue, the raw emotions still come up and I get tears in my eyes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Etzel thinks of the niece and friend he lost 25 years ago when two hijacked airliners crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City. <\/p>\n

Katie McCloskey, 25, was working on the 97th floor of 1 World Trade Center, staffing the computer help desk of Directfit Inc. Bethel Park native Ken Waldie, 46, was aboard American Airlines Flight 11 that struck the North Tower.<\/p>\n

\u201cKatie would have been 50 this year,\u201d Etzel said. \u201cShe was so dear. It\u2019s hard not to wonder what Katie looked like and what she would have done.<\/p>\n

\u201cKen was a fierce competitor,\u201d Etzel added of Waldie, who swam at Bethel Park High School as well as at the U.S. Naval Academy. \u201cEven raking leaves in the front yard, he would make a game of it, but the most impressive thing about Ken Waldie was his humility. I valued his friendship and marveled at his willingness to help others.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of the 9\/11 tragedy and over the passage of 25 years, Etzel has channeled his grief, anger and despair into hope, positive action and peace. He will speak about the 25th anniversary of 9\/11 and his personal journey during two free events at two local libraries this week.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 9, from 7 to 8:30 p.m., Etzel will speak at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall located at 300 Beechwood Ave.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 10, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., Etzel will talk at the Bethel Park Public Library located at 5100 W. Library Ave. Registration is required. Visit the events calendar at www.bethelparklibrary.org for details.<\/p>\n

Since Sept. 11, 2001, Etzel has established a global nonprofit organization and written a book.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a huge growth experience,\u201d Etzel said.<\/p>\n

Etzel, who is a CPA and financial adviser, studied at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, a world-renowned Tufts University graduate school of international studies, to learn how to help reduce violent conflict in the world and prevent another 9\/11 event. His thesis became the cornerstone of the Global Peace Building Foundation (GPBF), which he established six weeks after earning his master\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n

In 2024, Etzel published a memoir. \u201cWithin Our Grasp: Changing Ourselves and the World\u201d documents his journey from despair to hope as well as his path to healing and compassion. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe one thing I learned is that you have to get beyond yourself. The self pity and despair,\u201d he said. \u201cSteer that energy into love. It was a purposeful decision to not go down the path of retribution and not get into that dark space of despair.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s worked and continues to, but that\u2019s not to say I don\u2019t have sad moments,\u201d he continued. \u201cThe hardest part is doing the presentations. It\u2019s hard not to get emotional when you talk about that day.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Etzel will have books to distribute during his presentation, they can be ordered and purchased online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million, Indigo, Hudson Booksellers and Indie Bound, among others. A portion of the proceeds are donated to the GPBF.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy intention was not to make money but more to increase awareness of GPBF and its work and to give it to younger people as a gift to help them work through life\u2019s challenges and give them some tools to get through the rough spots.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Friday, Sept. 11, Etzel will launch a podcast with his son, Mark. The monthly episodes will include audio as well as video. They will typically run from 20 to 40 minutes. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s storytelling. About people who have overcome obstacles or severe setbacks,\u201d Etzel said. \u201cHow they have turned something bad into good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steve McGinnis will be featured in the October podcast. McGinnis and Etzel were both 1973 Bethel Park High School graduates who played on the basketball team. McGinnis founded the Friends of Waldie organization, which established a scholarship fund in remembrance of Ken Waldie, raising more than a quarter-million dollars.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough my whole journey there have been people that have lifted me up. That was one of the reasons for developing the podcast,\u201d Etzel said. \u201cEven to this day, there are people who have come into my life.<\/p>\n

\u201cSteve is one of those guys,\u201d he continued. \u201cI am still in awe of him and what he has been able to do with the Waldie Fund and how he was able to get the community to come together and raise all that money. We can\u2019t believe how well it went. Nor did we think it would get this far. When we started it, we didn\u2019t have a clue.\u201d<\/p>\n

As survivors become more removed from 9\/11 and a whole generation reads about it in history books, Etzel hopes to keep the date on people\u2019s \u201cradar\u201d by his own testimonials. He has requested to speak to students at Duquesne and Tufts Universities as well as Mt. Lebanon and Bethel Park high schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s important to remember and not forget,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have to work on it though. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s part of history for kids today but they still can gain some first-hand knowledge by educators keeping it current. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn a way, I congratulate America for its memorial sites because that\u2019s preserving history. We want to and should honor and recognize all the people that lost their lives, including the first responders, and pray for their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Etzel also implores the public, on this anniversary and every day, to be kind and silence hatred.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way the country came together immediately (after 9\/11) was wonderful,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s not the state now. The spread of hate that exists today in the world is harmful. We need more love and less hate. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we can do is spread love. It\u2019s a tall task but it\u2019s worth making the effort,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \/bethel park 1 \/ 3 Tom Etzel (right) of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[32],"tags":[7052,20676,75622,93,674,7053,4182,18266],"class_list":["post-277461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lebanon","tag-almanac","tag-bethel-park","tag-carnegie-borough","tag-lebanon","tag-local-news","tag-main-menu","tag-mt-lebanon","tag-south-hills"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117210046002316612","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}