Weekly Mail September 11 Special 2018

                                                  September 11, 2018



17 years on, this is what comes to mind as we remember that horrible day....



The call came in a little before 10 that Tuesday night, October 30th, 2001.

7 weeks earlier, the unthinkable had happened. In the weeks that followed that deadly day September 11, there had been much pain and sorrow, but also much pride and patriotism. It was a strange, uneasy time, especially here in New York.

A perfect example of all this had just taken place about an hour before this call I was waiting for. President Bush, before Game 3 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium had thrown out the first pitch. Part of me watched nervously. Nobody ever thought the Twin Towers could be brought down, much less by airplanes, who was to say that someone out of a crowd of almost 60,000 people couldn't take a shot at the President? It seems crazy now, it wasn't back then.

Yet when Bush fired that pitch right down Broadway from the pitching rubber nonetheless, it didn't really matter what you thought of him, that was a moment. Pride and patriotism, yet fear and sorrow, he would have been nowhere near the Bronx that night if not for 9/11.

But the call I got a little before 10 that night, two of my best friends had just welcomed their baby boy to the world.  It was the best news I had gotten since that awful day. A light in a dark time.

Several weeks later, Christmas day in fact, I was standing in back of St. Mary's Church after communion during Christmas morning Mass, when another longtime friend introduced me to his weeks old baby daughter. One of those moments you just don't forget.

These two kids are going to be 17 this year. And in June, they are graduating from high school.

At a time where hope was in limited supply, these two awesome kids came into the world. I know other kids were born at that time, but these are the two that I know.

At times during those first few weeks, I thought it kind of sad that these babies were going to grow up in a world where something like 9/11 was not only possible, but something they'd probably read about in a history book. But there was also hope, that it would be people like these kids, that they could make the world better. (Feel free to cue the Whitney Houston music if you'd like)

After the summer my family and I had, it's tough talking about hope and light. But I find myself looking towards my son, and my nieces and nephew, and the kids of my family and friends and I know that's where hope lies. Politicians can promise hope and change and making the country great again and all that jazz, but lets face it, that story never changes. Just the names.

A whole new downtown skyline has risen from where the Twin Towers stood. Good things have happened since that day.

But to me, the most important thing is that this coming June, a bunch of kids born that year are going to graduate. And are about to make their mark in this world. And there may be rotten apples in the bunch.

But not the ones that I know. They'll make us proud. I'll bet the farm on that.


God Bless those we lost that day, and those they left behind.
God Bless the ones who are going to make things better.
and God Bless America.




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