Porter: 9/11 Remembrance Speech

By Guest

Editor’s note: The following remarks were delivered by Selectman Mark Porter at the September 11 remembrance ceremony held at Canton Fire Department headquarters on Sunday morning.

I was a high school senior when the towers came down. I watched them fall live on a CRT TV in the classrooms of my high school. I recall teachers trying to conduct class, while we, freshly minted seniors, on top of the world, wondered how this could be happening to us, here, now.

Selectman Mark Porter addresses the crowd on September 11. (Michelle Stark photo)

I’m not proud to admit it, but a few weeks later, as I sat on a plane headed to Boston to tour colleges, I heard people speaking a language I did not recognize in the seats behind me. I ignorantly wondered if they were terrorists and if I’d have the courage to fight back, like those on Flight 93. A few years later, upon graduating from the Merchant Marine Academy, my friend and mentor, Aaron Seesan, left to fight in a war and never returned. We all remember where we were 15 years ago today, and we all lost something. I know for my generation, we lost a great deal of our innocence. We lost our sense that America was safe and protected, somehow above what we saw on the nightly news.

I wanted to start by sharing with you my perspective and memories from September 11, as at 32 I never dreamed I’d be given the solemn responsibility to address a group like this to commemorate a day like this. The perspective of a veteran, the perspective of a firefighter, the perspective of a New Yorker, the perspective of a child. The power of perspective really sunk into me at this tribute last year, when I saw a line of fifth graders from St John’s in attendance. You’d have to be 15 years old to have been alive for this day. You’d likely have to be in college to have any memory of it. The memories of this day are so vivid to me, so much a part of who I am, that I cannot imagine a young person’s perspective.

I do not know what it was like to hear the news on December 7, 1941, or feel the impact of what came next. But when I speak to my grandparents, I see it in their eyes. I do not know what it was like to hear the news on November 22, 1963, but when I speak to my mother about it, and she talks about all of the nuns stopping class to pray, I see it in her eyes. Now, every Boy Scout I talk to, every one I work with, only knows September 11 through the eyes of those that lived through it. Many of you in the crowd may not have seen those towers fall, but when you talk to your parents, relatives and teachers about it, you’ll notice something changes in them when they talk about September 11.

Among the ashes and the wreckage, beautiful flowers did grow. Who can forget New York’s bravest raising the flag at ground zero, as the Marines did years ago at Iwo Jima, or Congress singing God Bless America on the steps of the Capitol? For a short time, politicians set aside their differences and got to work. Red Sox fans applauded as Yankee Stadium reopened. Saturday Night Live with Rudy Giuliani and Paul Simon said we “choose to live our lives in freedom.” Somehow, the tragedy inspired us to be better people. To love our neighbors and appreciate what was really important in life.

But it didn’t take long for us to settle into our old routines and begin to focus on our differences. The pain of this day lingered much longer than the voices of our better selves. While we knew that the attacks were inspired by hatred, in their pain and fear, many people abandoned love for hatred of their own. Suddenly words such as jihad, Taliban, and radical Islam entered our vocabulary. As a youth growing up in the Midwest with very little cultural diversity, I wondered if Muslims were just like everyone else, or people I should fear. I watched as the land of the free was sown with seeds of distrust and bigotry.

If we are to honor the memory of those that died that day. We cannot succumb to hate.

I implore you to make the message of September 11 one of love. See what unites us, not what divides us. Reflect upon your own inner biases and prejudices; don’t hide them, expose them so that they may be healed. Raise up your neighbor rather than tearing them down. Remember your opinion is not fact and that it’s okay for others to have a different opinion. Don’t be a critic; be an agent of change where change is needed. Give of your time to make your community better. Leave this place better than you found it.

It’s impossible to imagine what it would be like to be a civilian in those towers, watching the very world collapse around you, but maybe if they knew that September 11 would inspire that message, their last moments would be filled with peace. It’s impossible to imagine what it would be like to be a firefighter or police officer, rushing into the inferno, but maybe if they knew that September 11 would inspire that message, their last moments would be filled with courage.

I started my remarks by telling you about the memories I had of that day 15 years ago. While I don’t think I’ll ever be able to totally wash away the pain and loss, I know that I can heal, one act of love at a time. I invite you to do the same: make the memory of this day about love. The perspective of a child does not know the pain and disbelief of this anniversary. They know what we tell them. They know what we show them. So I implore you, for the sake of all whose lives were shattered that day, when a child asks about September 11 and looks into your eyes, make sure they see love.

Share This Post

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=34280