By: Genevieve Scholl

The audience at the
9/11 Remembrance

The Lights of Remembrance

On September 11, 2001, our nation was torn apart by the tragedy of the attacks on the Twin Towers. Today, ten years later, the memory of that event brought our school together. During our common hour, we gathered in the William W. Stuart Forum to listen to some speakers talk about 9/11 and the past ten years. In addition to those speakers, we also heard Genesee Community College student Joan Nobile read the powerful poem “The Names” by Billy Collins. “So many names, there is barely room on the walls of the heart”, says Billy Collins, but for the victims of 9/11 we will make room. Our hearts will grow to include them all and on the gloomy cloud covered day of September 8, 2011, those victims were with us as we remembered them all and what they gave that day. And as Genesee Community College student Joanne Taheri sang God Bless America, those souls wrapped their arms around us and thanked us for remembering.

The remembrance ceremony today was touching. I was glad to see that the school cared enough to put on such a remembrance. While there wasn’t a huge attendance to the ceremony, we still showed our determination to continue with normal life even in the middle of a war. Even ten years later we are still battling the consequences of the terrorist attack on our nation. We will probably always be battling it, but maybe one day we can resolve the war and get back to normal life. I, for one, am glad to know that our freedom hasn’t been rescinded and we are still a proud country.

On September 11th 2001, I was a little too young to really understand what was happening, but The Lights of Remembrance are an easy way for me and the children of the future to remember how magnificent the towers were before the attacks. Even after the attacks, the lights were a way for us to see through the dark forces at work during our attacks and our war and find the light of hope in every day that passes since the 9/11 attacks.