UP to Remember 9/11 on 9/9

On Sept. 11, 2001, I was a senior in high school, at a New York high school 80 miles due north of what I knew then as the World Trade Center. By the afternoon of that same day, I would know that site as Ground Zero. A day after that, I knew it as the place where two family friends had died at the hands of cowards with a weak understanding of their faith.

That was 10 years ago, somehow.

The University Park Fire Department will honor those who died during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks with a posting of the colors at 8:30 a.m., Sept. 9, at 3800 University Boulevard. All are welcome.

On Sept. 11, the University Park Honor Guard will remember the attacks by posting the colors before the 6 p.m. service at Highland Park Presbyterian, and on Sept. 12 UP Fire Chief Randy Howell will speak with UP Elementary students during a flag raising ceremony.

In the weeks and months following Sept. 11, “Never Forget” was thrown around by pundits and tchotchke merchants as a way for delivering their point or selling their wares. I grew sick of it, as I’m sure many people did.

Ten years later, I’m coming around to it.