Going forward, we need a return to the spirit of 9/11

CONCORD, CA (Sept. 20, 2024) — Attending memorials in Concord and Clayton relating to the sadness of September 11 23 years ago also brought memories of the unity and purpose of community that we felt after that horror.

For adults, it is one of those days that will be with us forever as prior generations remember the JFK assassination and the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It is amazing that there are now voters who were not even born in 2001, yet the memories are stark and fresh for many of us.

Before coming out to California in 1981, I was a night watchman working through college at the site of the Twin Towers where a 21-story building was being demolished to make way for them. Then, being in the maritime international container business, I would go to the World Trade Center to call on accounts and occasionally have lunch at the Atrium therein with a great view of the city.

My nephew became a cop in Brooklyn and Queens and, like so many, was called downtown to help that day. He would disappear for 24 hours, forgetting to call family to say he was OK – causing high blood pressure on both left and right coasts of the country. Finally checking in, his comment to his grandmother was a simple: “Hey, I was busy.”

Too few years later, he would pass in his 40s from toxins in his liver and elsewhere. Occupational causation?

Many were dealing with more immediate deaths.

Through it all, I also remember the next day and week on Alla Avenue and Rockne Drive in Concord, where residents flew American flags. My next-door neighbor, a retired English “Bobby,” flew a British flag as well in remembrance that many from outside the United States were also murdered that day.

Some 23 years later, the day after another divisive national presidential debate, I look down the block and only one flag remains. We need to once again remind ourselves that we are “indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” We are one people. And here in Concord, we shall continue to be together in our memories to strengthen our community and rally around each other.

If you would like to meet to discuss this or something else, let me know at edibirsan@gmail.com.