[Reading level: B2 – Upper Intermediate]
Does fate really exist? Sometimes, just one small decision can send a person’s life in a completely different direction. For Sekou Siby, it was simply a shift swap with a co-worker. But that seemingly ordinary exchange helped him survive 9/11 and, at the same time, became a source of guilt that would follow him for the next 25 years.
A few days before September 11, Moises Rivas, an Ecuadorian co-worker, approached Siby and asked him to swap shifts. At the time, both men worked at Windows on the World, a restaurant located on the 106th and 107th floors of the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York.
Rivas wanted to take Sunday off to perform with a band. Siby agreed to cover his shift. In return, Rivas would work the Tuesday morning shift on September 11. Neither man knew that such a simple decision between two co-workers would change their fates forever.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, Siby was not at the restaurant. He was at home when he was awakened by a frantic phone call from the wife of a co-worker. She told him that the building where her husband worked was on fire.
Siby turned on the TV. Before his eyes, the North Tower of the World Trade Center was engulfed in smoke. He immediately called the two phone numbers in the restaurant kitchen. No one answered. He called again and again, but all he heard were unanswered rings.
Then the tower collapsed.
“When the building came down, the phones went silent,” Siby later recalled.
At first, he still hoped that somehow his friends had managed to escape. But one day passed, then several more, and no one came home.
Siby and other surviving co-workers went from hospital to hospital searching for the missing. Their search was made even more difficult by the fact that many restaurant employees were undocumented immigrants. Their relatives were afraid to contact the authorities, while some families barely knew where to look for information because of language barriers. Siby tried to help them.
Eventually, a painful truth became clear: no one who had been above the point where the plane struck the North Tower had been able to escape. Siby lost 79 co-workers that day.
Trong số họ có Moises Rivas – người đàn ông đã đổi ca với anh.
Nếu cuộc đổi ca ấy không xảy ra, người có mặt trên tầng 107 sáng hôm đó rất có thể đã là Siby. Ý nghĩ ấy chưa bao giờ thực sự rời khỏi anh.
Many years later, when Siby returned to the 9/11 Memorial, he stopped in front of Moises Rivas’s name engraved in stone. He stared at it for a long time, thinking that all these years, it could have been his own name there.
Siby was born in Ivory Coast and had once worked as a French teacher. He came to the United States in 1996. Because his English was limited at the time, he began his new life by delivering groceries for a supermarket while studying English in his spare time.
In October 1998, he was hired as a kitchen assistant at Windows on the World, earning $8 an hour. During quiet periods at the restaurant, Siby taught himself knife skills and food preparation. His efforts eventually earned him a promotion to cook, with a wage of $12 an hour.
Windows on the World was not just a famous restaurant. Located on the top two floors of the North Tower, it was once the highest-grossing restaurant in the United States. Its employees came from many parts of the world: Latin America, Africa, Asia, Australia and elsewhere.
To Siby, they were more than just co-workers. On weekends, many of them would meet at a park in Queens, where they ate together, played soccer and talked about the everyday concerns of immigrant life: immigration papers, jobs, money and their hopes of building a better life in America.
Then, in the course of a single morning, many of them were gone.
After 9/11, Siby never returned to the restaurant industry. His fear of losing people made him reluctant to take jobs that involved interacting with too many co-workers. He became a taxi driver instead.
But rather than completely running away from his memories, Siby gradually found a different path. He began helping the families of victims and workers who had lost their jobs after the terrorist attack. He later became president of an organization that advocates for the rights of restaurant workers.
His life continued to move forward. Siby became a U.S. citizen, earned a doctorate in business administration and eventually began running a consulting company that works with nonprofit organizations.
But the story of that shift swap was not yet over. About 20 years after 9/11, Siby attended a gathering for the families and former employees of Windows on the World. There, he heard a woman talking about her late husband. She said that her husband was originally supposed to have September 11 off, but had swapped shifts with a co-worker.
Siby immediately understood. The woman was Elizabeth Rivas, Moises Rivas’s wife. And the co-worker with whom her husband had swapped shifts was Siby himself.
He walked over to Elizabeth and told her the truth. He also admitted that for all those years, he had lived with guilt because he had survived while Rivas had died.
Elizabeth burst into tears. Until that moment, she had never known the identity of the person for whom her husband had changed shifts.
The two did not stay in touch after the meeting. Siby said the story carried too much emotion, and he did not know what else he could do to help Elizabeth other than tell her the truth.
Perhaps no one can say for certain whether fate really exists. But for Sekou Siby, a brief conversation between two co-workers 25 years ago sent their lives in two completely different directions. One went to work on the morning of September 11 and never came home. The other lived on – carrying the memory of the man who had unknowingly traded him a day of work, and perhaps, in doing so, traded him the rest of his life.
Source: CNN, Time
WORD BANK:
fate /feɪt/ [B2] (n): số phận
swap sth /swɑːp/ [B2] (v): đổi, hoán đổi cái gì
a shift swap /ə ʃɪft swɑːp/ (n): việc đổi ca làm việc
seemingly /ˈsiː.mɪŋ.li/ [C1] (adv): có vẻ như, tưởng chừng như
ordinary /ˈɔːr.dən.er.i/ [B1] (adj): bình thường, thông thường
guilt /ɡɪlt/ [B2] (n): cảm giác tội lỗi, sự day dứt
cover one’s shift (v): làm thay ca của ai
frantic /ˈfræn.t̬ɪk/ [C1] (adj): cuống cuồng, hoảng loạn
be engulfed in sth /ɪnˈɡʌlft/ (v): bị bao trùm, nhấn chìm trong cái gì
collapse /kəˈlæps/ [B2] (v): sụp đổ
manage to do sth /ˈmæn.ɪdʒ/ [B1] (v): xoay xở, cố gắng làm được việc gì
escape /ɪˈskeɪp/ [B1] (v): trốn thoát, thoát khỏi
the missing /ðə ˈmɪs.ɪŋ/ (n): những người mất tích
undocumented immigrant /ʌnˈdɑː.kjə.men.t̬ɪd ˈɪm.ə.ɡrənt/ (n): người nhập cư không có giấy tờ hợp lệ
the authorities /ði əˈθɔːr.ə.t̬iz/ [B2] (n): nhà chức trách, cơ quan chức năng
language barrier /ˈlæŋ.ɡwɪdʒ ˌber.i.ɚ/ (n): rào cản ngôn ngữ
memorial /məˈmɔːr.i.əl/ [B2] (n): đài tưởng niệm, công trình tưởng niệm
engrave /ɪnˈɡreɪv/ (v): khắc, chạm khắc
stare at sth /ster/ [B1] (v): nhìn chằm chằm vào cái gì
Ivory Coast /ˌaɪ.vɚ.i ˈkoʊst/ (n): Bờ Biển Ngà
deliver groceries /dɪˈlɪv.ɚ ˈɡroʊ.sɚ.iz/ (v): giao thực phẩm, hàng tạp hóa
kitchen assistant /ˈkɪtʃ.ən əˌsɪs.tənt/ (n): phụ bếp, nhân viên phụ bếp
high-grossing /ˌhaɪˈɡroʊ.sɪŋ/ (adj): có doanh thu cao
reluctant to do sth /rɪˈlʌk.tənt/ [C1] (adj): miễn cưỡng, không muốn làm gì
path /pæθ/ [B1] (n): con đường, hướng đi
terrorist attack /ˈter.ɚ.ɪst əˌtæk/ (n): vụ tấn công khủng bố
advocate for sth /ˈæd.və.keɪt/ [C1] (v): lên tiếng ủng hộ, vận động cho cái gì
rights /raɪts/ [B1] (n): quyền, quyền lợi
earn a doctorate /ɝːn ə ˈdɑːk.tɚ.ət/ (v): lấy được bằng tiến sĩ
consulting company /kənˈsʌl.t̬ɪŋ ˈkʌm.pə.ni/ (n): công ty tư vấn
nonprofit organization /ˌnɑːnˈprɑː.fɪt ˌɔːr.ɡən.əˈzeɪ.ʃən/ (n): tổ chức phi lợi nhuận
gathering /ˈɡæð.ɚ.ɪŋ/ [B2] (n): buổi tụ họp, cuộc gặp mặt
former /ˈfɔːr.mɚ/ [B2] (adj): cựu, trước đây
late /leɪt/ (adj): quá cố, đã mất
be supposed to do sth /səˈpoʊzd/ [B1] (v): được cho là, có trách nhiệm hoặc dự kiến làm gì
admit /ədˈmɪt/ [B2] (v): thừa nhận
burst into tears /bɝːst ˈɪn.tuː tɪrz/ (v): òa khóc, bật khóc
stay in touch /steɪ ɪn tʌtʃ/ [B1] (v): giữ liên lạc
carry too much emotion (v): mang quá nhiều cảm xúc
live on /lɪv ɑːn/ (v): tiếp tục tồn tại, sống mãi
carry the memory of sb/sth (v): mang theo, lưu giữ ký ức về ai/cái gì
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