Dear neighbors,
Twenty-one years ago, everything we thought we knew about our lives was upended in a series of attacks on our city and our nation.
Through grotesque violence, we realized - or perhaps we were reminded - that human beings are capable of heinous actions that defy explanation and that the world we thought we knew was no more.
The challenge for us today, and on every day hereafter, is to somehow find a way to pass the memory of that pain onto those who never experienced it. Not the pain itself, but just the memory of the hurt that we suffered. Only then can we say that we’ve paid fidelity to the universal commandment to “Never forget.”
Never forget.
Those words form such a powerful phrase that holds different meanings to each of us.
“Never forget” can mean - in a very literal sense - a call to remember all of the details of that day. The crispness of the air. The shock we felt after the first plane hit, then the second plane, then the third and fourth. The billowing dust clouds of collapsed towers and the choking smoke lingering for days from a fire that would not extinguish. The unsettling realization that hit us when those we loved and lost did not return home to us.
“Never forget” can also be a memorial cry - a sorrowful reminder that makes the names and faces and lives of those who were taken from us deathless. So that on the brightest days and the darkest nights, we are comforted in knowing that we are not alone. We are joined by the memory of those whom we loved.
“Never forget” is also an acknowledgement of a slow-healing scar. At this point in our history, more people have died from post-9/11 illnesses than on 9/11 itself. Thousands of first-responders and city workers who were sent down to Ground Zero in the days, weeks, and months after the attack have gotten sick. Many of them have passed. As they continue to suffer, the scar of that day continues to linger.
And lastly, “Never forget” is a rallying cry. A trumpet call that summons us to be the best version of ourselves individually and collectively. To consciously reject the evil that caused us so much pain and instead embrace love and compassion as we realize the infinite capacity we have when we act as one, and not for one. In the wake of 9/11, we were filled with that spirit of unity once. Imagine what we could do if we were filled with it again.
Today, as we commemorate the 21st anniversary of September 11th, we share the heavy burden of still-lingering grief, and offer a renewed promise to never forget the memory of everyone - and everything - we lost.
Sincerely,
