The first episode of the College of Communication and Information Global podcast, “World Class,” provides insightful lessons regarding 9/11 from a retired CIA senior executive.

The podcast, hosted by senior public relations students Hana Barkowitz and Daniel Henderson, is a part of the CCI Global Initiative.

“World Class” will hold conversations on global issues and developments while bringing them to a college level and relating them to students, Barkowitz said. 

The first episode, titled “What Lessons Can Today’s College Students Learn from 9/11?” features discussion on the tragedy with guest Charles Banks, a retired CIA senior executive and founder of High Stakes Logistics.

Banks, according to the podcast, “provided strategic direction for the successful logistics operations for CIA in Afghanistan and Iraq from 2001-2003.”

According to Banks, 9/11 will forever be a detrimental part of history.

“I remember a professor saying, ‘(In) early American history, all roads lead to or from the Civil War,’” Banks said. “Now, for (government officials) in the U.S. and for our allies in nations in Afghanistan’s neighborhood, all roads lead to 9/11.”

Despite the complete chaos and pain 9/11 caused, he vividly remembers a positive aspect: people united. Banks ultimately learned that in order for the world to work, people have to unite.

Banks fears another tragedy is the only way people can put aside their differences and come together due to the current political climate.

Banks also presents a new aspect of 9/11 and how it is perceived by the new generations.

“I’m sure (that) 16 years after 9/11, some young folks aren’t only detached, but bewildered while my generation seems obsessed with it,” Banks said.

Banks calls for young adults to think of the future and apply it to everything that ensued during and after 9/11.

“The message of 9/11 is (that) it’s not about a single day in history any more than December 7th, 1941, or July 4th, 1776 (are),” Banks said. “There’s more to (9/11).”

Banks urges young adults to become aware of the effects of war as it isn’t something that only exists on faraway battlefields.

Banks relates this to a television show he watched as a child.

In the episode, a blind monk asked his student to drop a pebble in a pond. The monk then asked his student when the pebble’s journey had ended.

“Of course, once the pebble hit the bottom of the pond, the student said that its journey was over,” the monk said. “Don’t you see the ripples that are continuing on, long after the pebble stopped?’”

“Those ripples of 9/11 are still moving out,” Banks said.

Madison MacArthur is the safety reporter. Contact her at [email protected].