Here we are again. 4 years past now. 4 years and a lot has changed, but in many ways, a lot has not. 4 years I’ve been doing emails and rants and speeches with responses ranging from people telling me it's best to forget to people thankful that I still among those who care to remember. I do not dwell on this day, I merely seek to remind those who seem to have forgotten.
I won't stop doing these, and i'll tell you why. First of all, I am a creature of habit. I'm loyal to many things. And to me, this day is sacred. I feel it is important for people to remember and reflect. It shouldn't be shunned, avoided or forgotten. To many people, the day means many things. I don't plan what I write when I do these. This comes out of whatever is in my head, my heart, whatever. This is pure and raw. Laugh if you chose, cry if you chose, but all I ask when you see these is that you read, listen and think about it.
The day September 11th 2001 was much like the day today is supposed to be...weather wise anyway. Clear, warm, beautiful. Indian summer some call it.
If you've ever been to the World Trade Center site, or Ground Zero as it is now known, you'll see a variety of things. In an odd way, nothing has changed. Tourists flock to the site at the corner of Liberty and Church Streets and take pictures. Street peddlers offer various knockoff knickknacks that are overpriced. Businessmen and women rush to work and jab on their cell phones. New York City at its most normal.
Step a few feet more and you encounter a tall steel gate that appears to go on forever. Imagine if you will that this gate was not there. You find yourself in the heart of it. The spot where 2,749 people were lost. Right now, it seems to be a construction site. But if you move up a bit to the corner of Church and Vesey, You'll see what remains of a concrete stairwell, maybe 15 or 16 stairs left, battered and broken but still standing. Still standing after facing unimaginable heat, immense pressure from the tons and tons of steel that lay upon it. But still, it stands.
It stands as a solemn reminder of that day. Of the pain and of the heroism and of the hope. People, scared, terrified ran down those stairs and into the relative safety of the streets. People, scared, terrified ran up those stairs to get others out. These stairs may be gone in time, removed to move on with the rebuilding process, but these stairs will mean something, to me at least. Running to achieve the dream that is living your life to the fullest.
Running is something else that brings the day closer to home for me. Last September, I competed in my first Tunnel to Towers run. The run is in honor of Firefighter Stephen Siller. Stephen was a husband and father of 5. On September 11th, Stephen had just gotten off duty when he heard the news. He then ran from the through the Brooklyn Battery tunnel to the towers. He wasn't seen again. The run retraces his steps and benefits many children’s charities that Stephen supported and was a part of.
As you continue along Vesey Street, you’ll walk up a set of newly created steps along a walkway that is alongside the newly rebuilt World Trade Building 7. It is a very quiet area, something difficult to find among all the tourists and construction. If you stop about midway on this staircase, you will have a clear, unobstructed view of pretty much the entire site.
It's at this spot that it hits me. How much we have lost. Lost over the senseless teachings of a madman. But after the anger, I remember the hours and days following. The courage and hope and overwhelming will to not let this beat us. And it is then I feel an overwhelming sense of pride and hope. There was a spot on the West Side Highway, a little north of the site, where thousands of regular people camped out throughout the recovery process. They cheered and high fived every rescue worker who left that site. The spot was named "Point Thank You."
When I think of things like that, and the overwhelming generosity following that day, I get a sense of pride unlike any other. Pride in my city, pride in my country.
Those of you who know me at least a little, know how much I am looking forward to taking the written exam for the New York City Fire Department next year, and working for the department. Every firehouse in New York City has thier own indvidual logo, each one meaning something different, from an inside joke to something that honors a fallen member, every house has something different. These logos are displayed on everything from the sides of the trucks, to the Patches that the members wear on their gear.
There is a firehouse here on Staten Island, Ladder Company 79/Battalion 22. Their Patch features a bald eagle on it. The reason the eagle is a symbol for this nation, and perhaps that firehouse is that it is the bird least afraid of a storm, the bird strong enough to soar through and above it.
It is that kind of determination and courage that makes life good for all of us again. And it is with the word courage that I will end this rant. John Wayne once said, "Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway."