The talk, which was sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ, began dramatically with a montage of photographs of the terrorist attacks and aftermath, many of which were taken by Douglas himself.
Douglas came to prominence after "Dateline NBC" followed his search to find his mother, who lived just three blocks away from the World Trade Center. Although Douglas fortunately was reunited with his mother after four hours of searching, he still was profoundly affected by the events. "There were many days I did not stay together," said Douglas, in response to a question on how he coped with the tragedy.
On Sept. 11, Douglas first became aware of the attacks while watching television from his New York City office at Chase JP Morgan. He said he saw one of the World Trade buildings on fire and knew something was wrong. "As a pretty tough New Yorker, I just took notice," Douglas said.
He then became worried about his mother's safety.
"I was immediately on the phone with my mother. She was crying hysterically," Douglas said.
Douglas said he left work against his supervisor's orders to be with his mother, who has emphysema. When he arrived, his mother's apartment building was empty, and the streets were filled with debris and rescue officials.
"It was something like you might see in a cheap action movie," he said. "The reality was New York was not prepared for it. Collectively they did not know what to do." Douglas eventually found his mother, but then was separated from her two more times.
After finding her the second time, he flagged down a passing car, and they agreed to take his ailing mother to a hospital. Douglas tried to follow on his bike, but could not keep up. "I'm a good cyclist, but I'm not training for the Tour de France or anything, so she lost me."
Then, with "Dateline NBC" tagging along, Douglas searched four hours for his mother, at local hospitals in the area. But eventually he found her back at his apartment building.
