At the risk of editorializing, I think many of us would agree 2020 has been a borderline grind.
Which brings us to the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Loyal Scaiaholics will recall I’ve felt ways about trying to teach punk kids about the attacks as a history lesson.
Kids entering college now don’t know a pre-9/11 world. McKinney has set up a “Timeline of Remembrance” instead of hosting a giant ceremony. They did host a ceremony, it was just broadcast on Facebook Live. That way, families could come see the tribute in smaller groups and walk their kids through the way the attacks unfolded.
I discussed this with the head of the McKinney Chamber of Commerce. I told her the exact same story from blog above: I didn’t know what was happening that morning when I woke up and wandered out of my room in college, but a couple fellas down the hall who did not seem like news junkies were fixated on CNN, so I checked it out.
She told the story of how she heard about what was happening. Even almost 20 years later, we all remember where we were when the attacks played out.
In Arlington, the Rotary set up 911 American flags at Veterans Park.
People could sponsor a flag and put the name of a family member in the armed forces or was a police officer or firefighter. Some of the names are from Iraq and Afghanistan. Others are from Vietnam and the World Wars.
This year, the head of the Arlington Rotary says people could include the names of doctors, nurses and paramedics.
Arlington held an in-person ceremony, too, but it was smaller than last year and the city taped out six foot boxes at Levitt Pavilion. The head of the Rotary made a strong point that the September 11th attacks brought us all together.
As the conversation’s downer, I asked if we’d come together if the same thing happened now, or if we’ve just become too accustomed to arguing over the tyranny of being slightly inconvenienced with a face mask. He countered that when things truly go gunny sack, that’s when we really see what’s important.
Several police and firefighters who worked in New York on 9/11 now live in McKinney, so their event included speeches from them. The head of the McKinney Chamber was telling me about one of the guys who was at Ground Zero. She came to the same conclusion on her own: Anniversaries like this can be a reminder that we all come together when things go gunny sack.
But in a perfect world, maybe we wouldn’t need another 9/11 or Pearl Harbor to see what’s important. Or maybe I’m a fool.
