9/11 ... through the lens of 16 years

As each passing year goes by, the anniversary of 9/11 becomes more distant and more detached for the younger generation. I liken the kids these days to what it was like for me, growing up and hearing about the JFK assassination, which occurred nine months before I was born. It was a historical event, still fresh in our nation’s consciousness but something I couldn’t directly relate to. My kids, and most students at Marist, fit into this category, re 9/11. And so today, in an effort to better explain the meaning of 9/11 and to give a different perspective, I turn to our resident Marist Running Alum street philosopher Marty McGowan, in an email he wrote to me last week in hopes that I would share it:

The first two weekends in September will always be reflective for me 'till I die, and I'm OK with it. I'm just glad I'm alive. One wrong turn that morning (and I've thought about this a lot over the years) and a few pieces of Building 1 would have landed on my head. God was with me. He gave me something to do in helping out a few co-workers and making sure they were OK. I didn't have time to think about myself, and I'm grateful to Him for the opportunity to help out, even in the small way that I did. And, I thank God that I was able to make it home to Annie and Matt later on that afternoon. We had our Eve of Remembrance Mass on Wednesday night. We did it early in the week this year so we wouldn't interfere with any of the parish Masses on Staten Island this weekend. As usual, we read the names of the almost 300 Staten Islanders who died that day. We read the names after the Profession of Faith, as part of the Offertory prayer. About 10 people read the names, about 30 names each. Since 2002, we've asked the Catholic high schools on the Island to send a student or two to read the names, and this year was no exception. What was different this year is that a few of the kids weren't born before 9/11/01! Time does go on. The thought came to me Wednesday night that my friends who died were probably as old as the parents of the kids now reading the names, i.e. people in their mid to late 40s. I mentioned that to a few of the kids as a way of putting the evening into perspective. Kind of like me going to a WWII memorial with my parents when I was their age. Imagine your parents or an older brother/sister going to work and not coming home. Ouch! Anyway, if you're going to talk about 9/11 to the team, or in class during the next few days this might be one way of trying to relate the day to the next generation. A lot of people like us died that day. I noticed that Marist will be remembering 9/11 at Mass on Monday. I'll be there in spirit, believe me.

Well put, Marty, and thank you. We will never, ever forget. We cannot and we will not.