Today, September 11, is the twentieth (20th) anniversary of the tragic terrorist attack on America, at 9 a.m. Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001. Nineteen members of al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial flights in Boston and New York. All of these planes crashed; three of them managed to intentionally destroy major buildings in New York and Washington, D.C. Thousands died. This is a tragedy that we must never forget, so please make it a point to visit the Massachusetts September 11 Memorial in the southwest corner of Boston’s Public Garden.
American deaths from the 9-11 hijackings finally amounted to 2,977. The large majority of these casualties were civilians. No, 9-11 was not a battle in any way. It was a war crime committed by infidel terrorists, mostly on unsuspecting victims. And the nearly 3,000 deaths made 9-11 the bloodiest enemy action ever to take place on U.S. soil – much more than the attack on Pearl Harbor 80 years ago.
The Massachusetts September 11 Memorial is also called “The Garden of Remembrance”. There are 198 names on it. We must never forget 9-11, so we’ll quote the lines from “Boston & Sea Poems” by Lawrence Homer, which are carved on the floor of “The Garden of Remembrance”:
“Time touches all more gently here, here where man has said NO: Trees and grass, and flowers will remain, where the first-born sometimes sees his father’s father’s eyes reflected in the shallow pool; feels an ancient heart beat in the palm of his hand pressed against a willow; and seeking comfort, seeking shade, lies beneath the golden leaf elm watching swanboats glide by in season.”
Read these words quietly to yourself when you visit the Massachusetts September 11 Memorial. Bring your children on your visit to “The 9-11 Garden of Remembrance”. When they become adults, they won’t forget you took them.
We’ll close with the words spoken that 9-11 morning by Todd Beamer on UA Flight 93, the fourth plane that was hijacked. He first recited the Lord’s Prayer, followed by the 23rd Psalm – “Yea, though I walk through the Valley of Death … “. Todd Beamer then yelled two final, simple, unforgettable words: “Let’s roll …”
