How to Remember 

I find myself, as the date draws closer, thinking more and more about it.  I remember the oddest things at the oddest times.  Driving to the bank and watching the jet trails turn back towards Wichita as all flights were grounded that day.  Listening to the radio at the store with Myron as the first tower collapsed and instantly realizing how many rescue workers were killed.  Wondering what could possibly be next.  Wondering when it would end.  Wondering what the President would do.  Wanting to go get the kids and go home to Pam and just be together.  Watching Rudy comfort, strengthen, and guide his City; and wondering how he did it while dealing with his own personal loss of so many friends.  Going to bed wondering what the morning would bring.

September 11, 2001 was a terrible, unforgettably nightmarish day.  We lost 3,038 members of our American family that day; sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, friends and lovers forever gone from this earth.  How do you measure or fathom the loss?  What is the worth of a mother’s smile?  Or a father’s encouraging words to a son?  Can we even begin to imagine the loss of talent, potential, possibilities?  Our hearts, half a continent away, ache for the loss.  We feel the pain.  We understand the sorrow.  We remember.

Last week, the FDNY identified, through DNA analysis, remains of Joe Spor.  His wife has decided to hold a small service with family, Rescue 3, and Ladder 38 / Engine 88.  The service will be on September 7.  I wish I could be there.  I would tell her how much we care, how proud we are of her hero husband, and how sorry we are for her loss.  I’d pick up each of her four kids, hug them, and tell them their daddy was a hero.  I wish I could take away some of the pain. 

Instead, on September 11, 2002 the City of Anthony will honor the President’s declaration of Patriot Day and hold a Day of Remembrance.  There will be a memorial procession on Main Street in the morning with poignant tributes to Joe Spor and all of the victims.  That evening, in the Municipal Hall, we will hold a Citywide Memorial Service. 

In tribute to the victims, their families, the Armed Forces, and America, I ask you to fly your American flag at half-mast from sunup to sundown.  I ask you to wear red, white, and blue ribbons on September 11.    I ask you to drive with your lights on.  I ask you to donate to the Victim’s Relief Fund, which proceeds go directly to Joe Spor’s family.  I ask you to observe the 8:43 AM memorial procession.  At 9:05 in the morning, the exact moment the first Tower collapsed, the Courthouse bells will toll 38 times.  At the moment they stop, I ask you to observe a 2-minute period of silence in honor of Joe Spor and all the other victims.  I ask you to attend the evening Citywide Memorial Service at the Municipal Hall.

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Last modified:  September 01, 2006  

Copyright 2002 Anthony 9-11 Memorial Committee