Annual 9/11 Service of Remembrance Planned Wednesday at Wheeling Heritage Port
Eric Ayres (File) Trending
WHEELING -- As the years move forward since the tragic attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the need to remember those events -- the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the hijacking of Flight 93, where passengers fought back -- remains strong. Residents of the Ohio Valley will have their opportunity to do so at noon Wednesday during the annual Sept. 11 Service of Remembrance at Wheeling's Heritage Port.
That time to reflect is important, said Rabbi Joshua Lief of Temple Shalom, who coordinates the annual event. It's easy, he said, for Americans to be distracted by the divisiveness of political discourse or the other million little things on everyone's minds each day. Yet, he continued, on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, it was a similarly busy day for most Americans.
"Then something far more terrible unfolded that day," he said. "God willing, it shouldn't take horrible things disrupting us from the otherwise mundane routines of our lives, for us to be willing to take the time to remember those whom we have lost, to give thanks for the courage of those who help keep us safe each and every day, and to join with our neighbors in hope for a better future for us all."
Lief will be joined by several religious leaders at Wednesday's ceremony. Among those scheduled to attend are Bishop Darrell Cummings of the Bethlehem Apostolic Temple, the Rev. Jake Steele of Christ United Methodist Church, the Rev. Erica Harley of Vance Memorial Presbyterian Church, the Rev. Chris Figaretti of Newbridge Church and the Rev. Kenny Hardway of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
Also scheduled to participate are members of the Wheeling police and fire departments, various elected officials including Wheeling Mayor Denny Magruder and the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra.
As time passes from the day of those attacks, Lief said it remains important that the community join together as it did in the days following Sept. 11, looking past political and other divides and remembering that the greatest successes come when everyone walks the same path.
"I think it's a referendum for us as a community to prove that there are some things more important than personal interest," he said, "that being part of a community matters to the members of this community.
"This is one of those times when we can come together and not just for a happy celebration," he added. "This is a somber service of remembrance, to take time out of what would otherwise be an ordinary day and to declare that, to us, this is more than the ordinary. This is special, this is sacred, and we wish to have the time, and we wish to make the place in our own busy lives to join together in remembrance."