Regaining the Unity We Felt on Sept. 11, 2001
Last week, I was blessed to be at a September 11th Memorial Service at Temple Shalom in Wheeling. The featured speaker was the Honorable Mayor Glenn Elliott Jr. of Wheeling. He shared some of his experiences being in Washington, D.C., on that fatal day. I asked him for permission to share some of his speech with you today. It inspired me; I hope that it inspires you.
“Sixteen years have now passed since our nation saw a beautiful September morning descend into the most unimaginable of horrors. For many of us — particularly those too young to have endured December 7, 1941 or November 22, 1963 — it was the loss of our innocence. The shattering of the illusion we had that war was something that happened in other faraway lands and made known to us only on television and through news reports. September 11th was the most painful of reminders that we do not live apart from a world of terrorism and conflict — rather, we live within it.
“For me personally, that day remains all too real. I had graduated law school in the spring of 2001 and taken the bar exam that summer. Monday, September 10th, had been my first day of work as an attorney — a day I spent filling out forms and sitting through orientation sessions at my new firm’s office in Washington, D.C. My office was about a block from the Treasury Department and three blocks from the White House. I headed to work the following morning excited to receive my first assignment. On my way, I couldn’t help but notice how cloudless and deep blue the sky appeared. The lyrics of a Tom Petty song come to mind as I relive that morning commute:
“‘Into the great wide open, Under them skies of blue.’
“At that moment, anything seemed possible. But nothing had prepared me for what came next. Within an hour or so of my arrival, word was spreading throughout the firm about a small plane hitting one of the towers of the World Trade Center. What a tragic accident, I thought, as I was receiving my first assignment from a partner at the firm. I had spent part of the prior summer interning at another law firm situated barely a block from those towers in Manhattan, and not one day exiting the subway station under their shadow did I not gaze upwards at them in awe. How could anyone flying a plane not realize they were there? Needless to say, I was struggling to focus on the assignment I was being given. And no sooner did I leave the partner’s office than another colleague shared the word somewhat frantically that the other tower had been hit. Everything suddenly changed. These were not accidents. America was under attack.
“I made my way to the firm’s central conference room, where a crowd of employees had gathered in disbelief to watch CNN. Within minutes, the disbelief in Conference Room 12-C transformed into horror and then into sheer chaos. We watched the South Tower of the World Trade Center fall. We learned of a similar airplane attack on the Pentagon, just several miles away. We were told that there was another plane heading for D.C., for the Capitol or the White House — the latter of which sat barely three blocks away. And one of my colleagues shared that he had heard of a bomb exploding at the Treasury Department, which was just down the block. While this last bit of information turned out to be a false alarm, it didn’t matter. People began fleeing frantically. 9/11 had devolved very quickly from being an event that was happening on television to an event that was happening all around us. I had never felt more helpless. I joined the exodus not so much knowing where I wanted to be. Just knowing I didn’t want to be there.
“After quickly realizing there would be no easy way to get out of the D.C. area, I settled with simply making it to my house in Arlington, Virginia. A few hours later, I made it home on a day when nearly 3,000 others did not. I had no idea at the time just how lucky I was. From my back porch in Arlington that evening, I could smell the Pentagon smoldering as what seemed like hundreds of F-15s buzzed through the skies overhead at low altitude. And like many of you, I spent the next few days glued to the television — coming to terms with that shattered sense of security I had once taken for granted.
“In the 16 years since that day, I have thought about the events of that day through different lenses. On a personal level, I have thought how lucky I have been to live in a country and a time when events like 9/11 are the exception, not the rule. I have also thought about how lucky I am to live in a country where so many people freely put their lives on the line not only to protect us against events like 9/11 but also to respond when tragedy does strike. Indeed, as so many of us in New York and Washington, D.C., on 9/11 were desperately trying to get as far away from the violence and chaos as possible, there were countless men and women who rushed towards doomed skyscrapers and into burning buildings. Three hundred forty-three firefighters and 71 law enforcement officers gave their lives in New York City on 9/11. And hundreds, if not thousands, more incurred life-threatening illnesses while saving others from the rubble. And not just those from the impacted areas. First responders from across the country descended upon New York and Washington in the days and weeks after 9/11 to offer their help. My brother, Michael, who is now a fire fighter with the city of Columbus, was then a volunteer firefighter in Wintersville, Ohio. He joined many of his firefighter peers from the Ohio Valley in heading off to Manhattan on the morning of September 12th. Not for fame or glory, but simply because it was in their blood. He saw things during his time near Ground Zero that he still struggles to talk about. We owe these first responders our highest order of gratitude for having the courage to go from where others flee.
“I would like to ask all those first responders in this room to please stand.
“I’ve also thought about the events of September 11th through a political lens. Having been born during the Watergate years, it’s fair to say that I have always lived in a country that was politically divided. But there have been times when this division has ebbed. And times when it has flowed. In my lifetime, however, no day has been more devoid of political division than September 12th, 2001. On that day, and for the next few brief months, We were a country where our similarities and aspirations outshined our differences and disagreements. There were obviously still major political differences between the parties, but there was an overwhelming sense that we were all in this together insofar as our national security was involved. And you saw a deeply divided public still wounded from the excruciating election of 2000 come together to an extent not likely seen since the 1940s.
“Now, we all know that this cohesion didn’t last long. Indeed, in the years following September 11th, we have seen political divisiveness re-emerge and grow stronger than perhaps it ever has since the mid 19th Century. And while it may be tempting to succumb to despair, I remain hopeful for our future. I think of where we were on September 12, 2001. And I choose to remember that we as a nation had the capacity to put partisanship aside when duty called. My hope for the future is that we figure out how to achieve a similar degree of partisan detente in the context of solving some of the domestic national problems that threaten our nation just as much-if not more-than 9/11 ever did. If I hadn’t experienced the unity of September 12th, I’m not sure I’d believe it was possible. But I remember. And I believe.”
Thank you, Mayor Elliott for your powerful words. I remember as well and I believe it is possible to have that unity again. God Bless America!
Guest columnist Cummings is pastor of Bethlehem Apostolic Temple in Wheeling and Shiloh Apostolic Temple in Weirton.
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