We will not forget

Americans have short memories. We are often easily distracted by the next shiny bauble that bounces along.  But there are some things we won't forget.

Tomorrow marks the 10 year anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Centers, the Pentagon, and Flight 93. 

I had the opportunity to take some time off from work last Wednesday (another reason I like my job)  to help with the set up of the Field of Flags at Riverfront Park in Salem. After helping place some potted flowers besides the flags marking the fallen Oregon soldiers in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, I headed back to the main gathering area.  I was given a page of about 75 names - the A's of the people who died in the World Trade Center.  As I began reading the names, other volunteers began placing the flags representing each person lost that day in the field.

Almost immediately in reading my list I ran into Andrew Abate and Vincent Abate. I wondered "were they related."  As it turns out they are brothers who worked at Cantor Fitzgerald, a stock trading company that lost over 600 employees that day.  This was going to be harder than I thought.

I focused on trying to say the names as best I could and silently prayed they would forgive me for any mangling of the pronunciation.

My favorite name in the list to pronounce was Ignatius Udo Adanga. Later, I looked him up in a book I have that lists all the victims of that day.  It told me that Mr. Adanga was born in Nigeria and had immigrated to New York 20 years earlier. He worked for the Metro Transportation Council in the World Trade Center. He was a husband, a father, and a friend.

I continued on reading the names, but my emotions finally got the better of me when I read first, Joesph J. Angelini, Jr. and then immediately afterward I read, Joseph J. Angelini, Sr.  Father and son. They were firefighters who did not survive the collapse of the World Trade Center.  The elder Mr. Angelini was a 40 year veteran with no thoughts of retiring.  His son, a relatively newbie, with seven years of service. 

The list of names continued as I handed off the next pages to the other readers.

Each generation has a defining moment. 

December 7, 1941

November 23, 1963

September 11, 2001. 

May we always remember.