WASHINGTON   –  “Every year on September 11th, the news replays horrific images of jet planes crashing into the World Trade Center.  Smoke and dust billows through New York City streets.  Firefighters rush to the scene and police officers deploy to maintain order, and a perimeter, around the worst domestic acts of terrorism in our nation’s history.

In Washington, DC, a gaping, blackened hole scars the facade of the Pentagon – once the world’s largest office building – which houses our nation’s Department of Defense.  Ambulances ferry casualties to nearby hospitals.  The plume of smoke can be seen above our nation’s capital for days.

And in a field in Stonycreek, Pennsylvania, emergency crews fan out to recover debris from a horrible crash, a heroic act of defiance.  A giant crater marks the site where 33 passengers and the seven member crew bravely met their end.  Though the lives they saved were hundreds of miles away in Washington, DC, no American will even take the selflessness, poise or courage of these 40 men and women for granted.

In April, Americans observe Memorial Day to honor our countrymen who have lost their lives while defending our freedom in the uniform of our nation’s military.  In September, we have a second Memorial Day on September 11th.  This day honors the civilians, too, who lost their lives that fateful day in 2001, or those who don’t just wear a military uniform, but also wear the uniform of a police officer, a firefighter, an EMT, a nurse, a doctor, or a customs agent at the Port Authority.  In short, people who are prepared for unthinkable duty, on September 11th, did that unthinkable duty by saving lives, rushing into burning buildings, caring for the injured, comforting family members, sacrificing themselves for people they had never met.

We don’t get the day off on September 11th; we don’t have parades.  I think it is highly appropriate that we conduct our lives as usual – going to work or school, running errands, exercising our freedoms as Americans – all with one simple but significant addition.  The memory of September 11th is foremost in our minds, and so is the value we place on being American citizens, living in a free society, and not taking for granted the men and women who put their lives on the line for us every day.

Eight years after that fateful day, perhaps the memory of September 11th is fading a little bit, which is all the more reason to renew our remembrances.  I recall exactly how I felt that day, the anger at the perpetrators of such senseless and diabolical violence, the sorrow for the nearly 3,000 victims murdered on that day and their heartbroken families, and in the days after September 11th a growing sense of pride at the unity of our nation in tragedy.

There are several legacies of the terrorist attacks on our country eight years ago.  We have stronger borders, safer buildings, better intelligence, new respect for our first responders.  We also have a new mandate to safeguard the liberties of our free society and to watchfully preserve Americans’ rights to privacy and due process.  And we have the security of knowing that in a national crisis, it doesn’t matter if you are a Missourian or a New Yorker, we are all Americans.  We all have a common stake in the free country we call home, and we all owe the same great debt to those fellow citizens who sacrifice in order to preserve those freedoms.

This is something to think about when we consider the selflessness of those who serve our country.  The shared sense of sacrifice ought to be a central part of every American’s philosophy of service – contributing to the good of our country, performing our civic duty, and endeavoring to do our part to support the men and women who keep us safe and free.”