Never Forget
(Nationally syndicated radio and TV talk show host Michael Smerconish delivered the following remarks on Sept. 11th at the 9/11 Garden of Reflection in Lower MaNefield. They are reSrinted here with his permission) Never forget. Three months from today the nation will mark the 71st anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Never forget. This past April 19th marked the 17th anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing when 168 lost their lives. Never forget. One day later, April 20th, was the 13th anniversary of the Columbine school shooting wherein 12 students and one teacher were murdered. Never forget. 0ay 13th marked the 27th anniversary of the 0O9E conflagration that claimed the lives of 11 people, five of them children. Never forget. Come Nov. 22, the nation will mark the 49th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Never forget. Last Wednesday was the 63rd anniversary of Harold Unruh murdering 13 of his neighbors in Camden, New Jersey.
Each of these was a monumental day based on tragedy, but for how many of them do we now pause? All were events that were “the” news for a period of months, and in every instance, there was grieving accompanied by the refrain of “never forget.” But life does go on. And where witnesses and loved ones die and memories fade, the challenge of remembering grows more difficult. Despite the best of intentions, too often we do forget too soon.
Like September 11, Pearl Harbor was an unprovoked attack on American soil; which resulted in nearly 3,000 deaths; and led the nation to war. Still, December 7th will be noted with minimal, if any, reverence by most Americans.
It seems unfathomable that September 11th could ever be forgotten. But already there is reason for concern. A newspaper story last week detailed how some visitors are treating the National September 11th Memorial as a “playground.” The NY Post reported that “tourists balance coffee cups and soda bottles on the parapets bearing the names of the dead. Parents hoist their children to sit on the bronze plaques, while other visitors splash water from the two waterfalls onto their faces to cool themselves on a hot summer day. On the plaza, tourists break out lunch foods and lie on their backs.”
That behavior is appalling. Those who would picnic in a graveyard disrespect not only the lives that were lost on that sacred ground, but also those soldiers still in harm’s way as a result of the events that gave rise to that memorial.
This design of this Garden, our state’s official memorial, is a model for how to remember. Liuba Laschchyk, who literally began the layout with a sketch on a napkin, is deserving of great credit: The 42 lights – one for each child who lost a parent in PA. The 9 red Maples, one for each Lower Makefield resident gone. The winding pathways which take us on a journey from destruction to rebirth. What else can we do? Houses of worship must always note the day. Every school’s lesson plan must teach what happened. Employers should find a way of noting the occasion in keeping with the decorum of the workplace. Flags should of course be flown at half-mast. And the media must keep showing the harrowing footage of the airplanes hitting the Twin Towers. More than anything else, if that presentation would be shown with more regularity - beyond just the anniversary news reels - it would go a long way toward keeping us ever mindful of what transpired eleven years ago.
Most importantly, at dinner tables across America, this night must be one for parents sharing with children the perspective of where they were eleven years ago, what happened to the nation, and with what consequence.
We won’t forget. But unless we take these measures and more, those who follow us will.