"Never forget."
That was the mantra immediately following the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks, a day that certainly remains dark for millions of Americans even as we observed the 24th anniversary this week. We should never forget.
But we should also always remember what happened immediately after: sympathy and kindness shown to relatives of those injured and killed, communities coming together, a sense of national unity, a pause (however brief) in coarse national discourse, charities and churches rushing to provide aid, a renewed effort to try to gain a better understanding of conditions around the world.
There is no better example of the kindness and charity shown on 9/11 than the acts of approximately 10,000 residents of the tiny town of Gander, Newfoundland. They went well beyond the call to provide housing, food, medical care, veterinary services, fellowship, for the nearly 6,800 passengers and the crews of 38 planes forced to land at their local airport when American airspace was closed.
Their story, I suspect, was largely overlooked as American and worldwide news coverage focused on the collapsed New York City towers, the attack on the country's military headquarters and the heroism of passengers who crashed United Airlines Flight 93 in a Pennsylvania field to avoid another attack.
In recent years, though, Gander is receiving its due.
Thomas E. Franklin, the New Jersey newspaper photographer who took the iconic photo of firefighters raising the American flag on a pile of World Trade Center rubble, ventured to Gander for the 10-year anniversary and produced a wonderful video available on Vimeo. Well worth the watch. https://player.vimeo.com/video/31489068?color=c3bfb4&autoplay=1
Stories are being written even now in national and worldwide news media that tell the fantastic story of the "town that gave sanctuary on 9/11." A recent example: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15058069/gander-newfoundland-sanctuary-passengers-9-11-come-away.html.
The musical "Come From Away" about Gander's herculean efforts hit Broadway in 2017. A live recording of the production was released on Sept. 10, 2021, on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the attacks. The "Come From Away" recording on AppleTV+ is extremely powerful. The props are basically chairs continually re-arranged on stage to simulate airline seating, the mayor's office, a bar, a scenic overlook and more. The dialogue between the actor passengers and the passengers and Gander folk evoked memories of when I flew on Sept. 11, 2001 on company business and became "stranded" in Milwaukee. After viewing "Come From Away," Mary asked me questions I had never discussed.
Especially provoking was the show's song "Prayer:"
"Make me a channel of your peace:
"Where there is hatred
"Let me bring your love
"Where there is injury
"Your pardon, Lord
"And where there's doubt
"True faith in you."
As we move forward from Thursday's anniversary, let's renew ourselves to living as if it is now Sept. 12. Find kindness and charity, care for one another. Perhaps take an approach suggested in the musical: "Tonight we honor what was lost. But we also commemorate what we found."