Remembrance
Wethersfield, CT
Photo by Steve Kotchko
Posted 9/13/11
Last Sunday, the nation marked the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. Though it has been a decade since horror literally came out of the skies to change America, doesn’t it seem like yesterday?
How many of us still see clear blue skies on any given September day and recall that same weather on September 11th, 2001? How many of us are jittery when travelling by air any time a new international crisis erupts? How many of us wonder where and when and now the next mindless but evil-minded terrorist attack will occur?
There is no question that there is a sense of innocence lost, invincibility shattered, and safety destroyed by the events of 9/11. What some may have called Fortress America in generations past seems so vulnerable now to the plots of well-organized foreign cadres or the angry whims of renegade terrorists.
Yet the fear factor that exists is countered by certain truths and new political developments worldwide. America is still America even though many among us doubt our own strengths and attractions from time to time. Politicians have to debate immigration issues because people from many places in the world still want to come here, still want to be Americans.
Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, who for so long seemed to laugh in the face of U.S. forces who tried to track him down is dead, after living as a hermit hidden away. Many of his key al Qaeda lieutenants also are gone.
More importantly the radical philosophy they espoused may have lost its luster, because of dramatic changes in the Arab world. Dictators such as Saddam Hussein, Moammar Gaddafi and lesser leaders have been tossed out in a region-wide season of revolution. Young people in those nations, growing up without hope, at one time were attracted to the martyrdom pitch made by bin Laden.
Now they have a chance to be part of nation building. It may be messy, it may not look like U.S. style democracy, but suddenly it offers opportunity for a better life. As your parents always told you, it’s better to be working for something than fighting against something.
All of that brings us back to the memories of 9/11. Numerous TV documentaries, newspaper articles, and radio audio reports rekindled all the dread from the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the doomed hijacked airliner that crashed in Shanksville, PA back on that day.
Yet across the United States, in communities large and small, Americans gathered to remember, to honor the innocent victims who were lost, and the police and fire personnel who tried to save them, and who died in the effort.
One of those events occurred on the town green in Wethersfield, where townspeople have gathered to talk about issues and everyday life since before the American Revolution.
Hundreds met there on this September 11th for a “picnic of remembrance” sponsored by the Keane Foundation, a local organization formed to honor the memory of Richard Keane, a Wethersfield resident who lived near the green, and who died in the 9/11 attacks. The event also honored two other local men who were killed—David Winton and Jeffrey Bittner.
For two hours, the U.S. Air Force Band of Liberty known as “Afterburner” played uptempo popular music so families could enjoy a sunny afternoon with their neighbors, and kids could jump up and down to the beat. It was advertised as a celebration of “peace, hope, and love”, a vivid reminder that life must go even after the darkest tragedies.
As the sun began to set, the loud music stopped, and hundreds of small candles were lit, a few short speeches were made by Congressman John Larson, and local officials, and the entire crowd joined the Air Force Band in singing songs to recall the serious side of the day—“Amazing Grace” and “God Bless America.”
Overheard, gray clouds of evening slid over the Wethersfield Green, but in the middle a big patch of blue sky and fading sunlight illuminated the event, a fitting combination of dark and light, sadness and hope.
The local volunteer fire department’s hook and ladder truck hoisted high and lit up a big American flag as the final songs of the evening wafted around the neighborhood. It was a scene repeated in some similar fashion in hundreds of communities across the nation, sending a quiet but strong message. We will never forget, but we will endure. We are the United States of America.