9/11 MM - No Bad Days

Robert: When you think about your Dear World message, what value does it represent? Torsten: Living fully. Gratitude is a big part of it, too, and optimism. There’s guilt because I’m one of the ones who walked away, but there’s gratitude with that as well. “No Bad Days” became a way of asking what I’m going to do with the time I was given. Robert: Take me back to the beginning of the story. Torsten: It started in a great place. Kelly and I arrived in New York in our mid-20s. We had just gotten married, I had this great opportunity with Edward Jones, and I was building my business from scratch. We were seeing the big city, feeling the energy, and wondering what was next. Robert: How did you come to know Edward, the neighbor who became part of this story? Torsten: Edward was a bond trader in our building. I approached him while building my business, and he politely declined. Over the next two or three months, we kept seeing each other in the hallway, often when I was walking my dogs and he was coming home from work. We started exchanging a few words and became friendly as neighbors. I was learning more about bonds and asked if he would grab coffee so I could learn from his perspective. About a week later, he invited me to his office. We met for coffee two or three times, sometimes weeks apart, and stayed in touch on and off for about a year. Robert: What do you remember about the morning of September 11? Torsten: That morning I was supposed to meet Edward for coffee down at the World Trade Center. I was running a few minutes late and missed my subway. On the next train, a man listening to the radio said a plane had hit the World Trade Center. We didn’t understand what was happening yet. Eventually the train stopped, and we were told to walk back toward the previous station. When I came up to the street, I turned around and saw a tower coming down. It felt surreal. Edward died that day, and I think I’m alive because I missed one train. Robert: How did that experience change you? Torsten: I blocked a lot of it out for years. Kelly couldn’t reach me for hours and thought I might have been in the tower. Edward wasn’t here anymore, but I was. That became the question: What am I going to do with this extra time on Earth? “No Bad Days” became a way of coping, moving forward, creating purpose, serving others, and having an impact. Robert: What do you want to carry forward now? Torsten: I want to be a role model. I want to give back, serve my clients, and help people think about their return on life, not just return on investment. It’s health, purpose, faith, kindness, and meaningfulness. Life gets complicated, but I try to step back and see the bigger picture. Life happens in between. I want to live fully and help other people do the same.