Patrick Maurer:: 9/11 Story

And I can see some of you sitting here right now and you're like, 'Hey Patrick, that's really cool, like yay, whoopty doo, good happy-go-lucky speech, but, but, but what about when things are more difficult than just some stupid electrical outlet? What about when there's real adversity in our lives? What about when things aren't something you can wrap up with little bow? When we are confused, when we are hurt, what do you do then? What do you do when it's not something that takes place in a comic book? What if it's when you're in elementary school and you wake up and you turn on the TV and you see images that belong in a horror movie, not on CNN? What about that? And I got to tell you that I honestly didn't have any answer on September 11th. It was my senior year of college. And I remember waking up and my roommate turned to me and he's like, 'Dude, we're under attack.' And I turn on the news and I watch, and I quickly call up my mom, and as I was on the phone with her, I saw the plane hit the second tower. And then I continue to go and watch this news report and you find out what's taking place at the Pentagon and what took place in the fields of Pennsylvania. And I'm thinking, what can I possibly do? Because all I am is some stupid college senior. I'm in Phoenix, Arizona. What can I possibly offer? I'm not some Key Club governor. Now I can't get on some stage. I'm not going to be on some newscast and I'm nowhere near this. How can I possibly do anything? Because this world is far too tough. And we're not talking about Robert and reading a book. Now we're talking about some major things in our lives. And I went to school that day and I was confused, and I was angry, and I was frustrated, and I was sad.

And late that evening I was sitting in my apartment watching the news with the images repeating over and over and over again. And then a friend of mine named Matt Shu, who was also a member of Key Club when he was in high school, came down the stairs and knocked on my door. He's like, 'Hey, can I come in? I just want to chat.' I was like, 'Yeah, please do.' We were sitting there and he said, 'Let's turn off the TV.' I said okay and we turned off the television set. We sat there and we chatted, and as we both tried to grasp what had happened that day, Matt eventually turned to me and he said, 'Do you want to get a Cold Stone?' I was thinking, um, dude, Cold Stone's probably closed, but like if nothing else we'll walk. And so we exited my apartment, we walked down the stairs, and walked to Mill Avenue in Tempe, Arizona, and there was a Cold Stone right there. And as we entered the Cold Stone, we saw that on Tuesday nights it's supposed to close at 9 PM. It was like 9:45, 9:50 when we entered, yet the place was packed. Matt and I went, we each ordered a Cold Stone, we stepped outside and we ate a Cold Stone, and for the first time that day we actually smiled and we laughed. And every year on September 11th I call my buddy Matt Chu, and we pretty much always say at the same time we say, 'Happy Cold Stone Day.' And if wherever we're at in the country has a Cold Stone, we get one to eat. It's a great privilege and a pleasure that when my grandchildren one day ask me, 'What did you do on September 11th?' I can say, 'I shared a Cold Stone with a friend.'

Now the story perhaps could go and end there, but a few weeks later I had a chance to be invited to this business luncheon, and the founder of Cold Stone was there at my table. I was very excited and I turned to him and I explained what had happened. And he says, 'I'm glad you mentioned that. You see, when we saw what was going on, we thought that people might want something that would remind them of their childhood. And so we called up a few of our local stores and we talked to our employees and we said, "If you need to be home today, be home, but if you'd like to serve some ice cream, go to work and stay as late as you'd like." The Cold Stone right next to Arizona State University stayed open to past 1 AM on September 11th. And my day and my viewpoint of that day was forever transformed because someone went and they scooped ice cream. Through scooping ice cream and just serving people, they transformed the way that we saw things. We do the same thing when we begin to go and to see that in our subtle interactions, our everyday interactions, we can go and we can create these moments and these opportunities. And that is why we are here: to have our passion intersect with our purpose, to recognize that it is in those subtle things in the difficult times that we greatly contribute, that we can go and persevere through them. And so our challenge now is to take action.