Editorial: Keep alive memory of Sept. 11

Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2002 | 9:35 a.m.

In the hours, weeks and months after Sept. 11, people all over the world expressed their feelings openly. In the United States, flags were flown everywhere. Strangers embraced at overflowing memorial services. Donations poured into New York City. Support for the president as he announced a war on terrorism soared. One unforgettable lesson from the tragic terrorist attack: Love of country, while not always visible as we attend to day-to-day concerns, remains a bedrock.

It speaks well of our country that we overthrew the Taliban government in Afghanistan and committed our troops to what appears to be a long, long fight against terrorists in that country and wherever else they may be gathered to plot harm against us or our allies. It speaks equally well of the country that we were able to understand the need for increased homeland security and begin an orderly transition toward achieving it. And it speaks well of all of us that despite our lasting grief and shock, we were able within a year to return to those normal day-to-day concerns that together shape our country.

And it will speak well of us when we take time on Wednesday to commemorate the first-year anniversary of the attacks. We will all approach the day in our own ways. Some of us will want to watch hour upon hour as the tragedy unfolds again on television, interspersed with commentary and memorial services. Others of us will want to watch only a few minutes or perhaps not at all. There will be written accounts that many of us will want to read, placing the events of that day in perspective and offering insights that will lead to greater understanding.

Many families will have decisions to make about the best ways for their children to commemorate the tragedy. Parents and schoolteachers have an important responsibility in this respect, as children will need the guidance of adults as they confront the frightening images and learn more about the human toll that day. At a level of teaching appropriate for their age, children will need to learn that Sept. 11, 2001, was a day they will need to remember all of their lives, and a day their children and their children's children will need to remember. It's important for such moments in history to be passed from generation to generation. The people who placed flags on their cars after Sept. 11, the people who attended memorial services and sent donations and supported the country's response, are the same people who learned about and remembered such moments in ou r nation's history as Pearl Harbor.

New York City and Washington, D.C., have been an inspiration to the world since they were attacked Sept. 11. The sacrifices of the New York police and fire departments are foremost in everyone's memories. The leadership of the New York City mayor is an enduring image. Crews honored Ground Zero night and day. Medical teams in both cities responded heroically. The way the cities welcomed help from all over the country, the way their people stood up to the tragedy -- in all ways they have been an inspiration.

And now, on the eve of the first anniversary of Sept. 11, they are showing the way once again. New York City's official memorial service will begin Wednesday at 8:46 a.m., the moment the first plane hit the World Trade Center. In Washington, there will be a special ceremony in all public school classrooms at 9:40 a.m., the moment the plane hit the Pentagon. For those contemplating the best way to communicate the depth of this tragedy to their children, for those wondering how they themselves can best honor those who fell and the country that responded so resolutely, they could hardly do better than to take their lead from these cities, where the memorials will begin with perhaps the most appropriate commemoration of all -- a moment of silence.