MILWAUKEE - A number of communities around
Wisconsin will hold ceremonies Thursday in remembrance of the September 11 terrorist attacks seven years ago.
At UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee, student organizations are planting nearly 3,000 small American flags in the ground on their campuses to memorialize the victims of Sept. 11.
At the downtown fire station in Milwaukee, firefighters will lower the U.S. flag at 8:45 a.m. and read the names of more than 300 firefighters who died in responding to the attacks.
A candlelight vigil is planned for Thursday night on Bascom Hill at UW-Madison.
--Information from: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,
http://www.jsonline.com
A number of ceremonies will be held today across Texas on this seventh anniversary of the deadly 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Four commercial planes -- including two operated by Fort Worth-based American Airlines -- were hijacked and crashed on September 11, 2001.
A candlelight vigil tonight will be part of the commemoration as part of the 9/11 Flight Crew Memorial Foundation in Grapevine.
In all, 33 airline crew members were killed when terrorists took over and crashed two American planes and two United Airlines jets -- in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C.
http://www.ksla.com/Global/story.asp?S=8989848
Somerville -
Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone announced today that the City’s seventh annual candlelight vigil, in honor of the victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks, will be held on Thursday, Sept. 11 at 6:30 pm.
The vigil will consist of a procession from the Cedar Street end of the community path, and conclude with a short ceremony in Davis Square.
“As we have in each of the six years since the tragedy that occurred on Sept. 11, 2001, we will gather as a community to remember the innocent lives lost, and to honor the families and friends of these brave individuals,” Curtatone said. “We must stand together against terrorism, and against cowardice, and this Thursday we will again honor the memory of so many who did just that. Somerville, like the world, will never forget.”
All members of the Somerville community are invited to participate in the vigil, and are asked to gather at the Cedar Street entrance of the Community Path at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 11, where candles will be provided to all attendees. The march will begin promptly at 6:45 p.m., and will include Honor Guards from the Somerville Police and Fire Departments.
The ceremony, which will take place at the intersection of Highland Ave., Elm St., and College Ave., will include a welcome by Mayor Curtatone, a benediction delivered by Reverend Michael Player of the Christian Assembly of God, and a procession led by a local bagpipe corps.
For more information, please call Nancy Aylward in the Mayor’s Office at 617-625-6600, ext. 2100.
http://www.wickedlocal.com/somerville/news/x802009895/Candlelight-vigil-marks-Sept-11-anniversary
Unity World day of Prayer, September 11
By STAFF WRITER, For the Guardian
Hundreds of thousands of people across the globe will join Silent Unity, an international and transdenominational prayer ministry, and Unity churches around the world in a sacred partnership of prayer on Thursday, September 11, the 15th annual Unity World Day of Prayer. The theme this year will be "Celebrating Oneness, Healing the World."
This year, the Unity World Day of Prayer will also serve as an opening event for the worldwide celebration of 11 Days of Global Unity September 11-21, commemorated annually by hundreds of organizations around the world who sponsor gatherings, speeches, discussions, concerts, dances, public events and interfaith festivities to honor diversity as well as global oneness. Unity's 11 Days activities are being co-sponsored by the Association for Global New Thought, Unity School of Christianity and the Association of Unity Churches International.
The Unity World Day of Prayer is open to people of all faiths. Its purpose is to unite as many people as possible in prayer for one another. Each year, millions of names that have been submitted are read aloud and prayed for as part of the annual event. Unity believes World Day of Prayer is an opportunity to transform the world through prayer.
This year the special prayer or affirmation is:
"Rejoicing in our oneness
with God and one another,
we celebrate healing
in every aspect of our lives
and in the world.
Here at home, Unity Bahamas sponsored events are:
Thursday, September 11 – An Inter Faith Prayer Service, 7:00 p.m. at the Unity Center, East Avenue North, Centreville.
Thursday, September 18 – A Daily Word Healing Meditation Service, 7:00 p.m. at the Unity Center.
Sunday, September 21 – WE ARE ONE Inspirational Community FREE Concert, 4:00 p.m. on Arawak Cay.
"This beautiful event gives us a sacred opportunity to make a difference in the world and to foster healing and wholeness through prayer," said Rev. K. Celeste Barrett. "It also gives us a chance to recognize and celebrate our oneness with the Spirit, each other and our world."
To learn more about World Day of Prayer, download World Day of Prayer materials in English or Spanish, submit prayer lists and/or listen to an audio meditation, visit
www.worlddayofprayer.org. You can also join World Day of Prayer services live on September 11 via streaming video on the Internet at
www.worlddayofprayer.org.
For more information and a schedule of the extensive activities planned for Unity's celebration of 11 Days of Global Unity, visit
www.11daysofunity.org.
Unity, based at Unity Village, Missouri, near Kansas City, held its first World Day of Prayer in 1994. Over the years, millions of people have participated.
Unity was founded in 1889 and helps people of all faiths apply positive spiritual principles in their daily lives. It can be found on the Internet at
www.unityonline.org and
www.unitybahamas.org.
Unity publishes Daily Word, a monthly magazine of inspirational messages that is distributed to about one million people in 180 countries, and available at Unity's Way of Life Bookstore, East Avenue North, Centreville. Unity's transdenominational prayer ministry, Silent Unity, maintains a 24-hour prayer vigil every day of the year and receives two million letters, telephone calls and Internet requests for prayer annually. Anyone in need of prayer support may call (800) NOW-PRAY (669-7729). Prayer support is also available on line at
www.silentunity.org. For prayer support locally, please call The Unity Center of Light, Bahamas (242) 328-1325.
http://www.thenassauguardian.com/religion/311444469115868.php
Area Sept. 11 commemorations
By Staff Report
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
The following is a list of some of the events happening in the Miami Valley on Sept. 11 (unless otherwise noted):
XENIA — An hour of prayer will be held at the Greene County Courthouse, noon to 1 p.m. This Patriot's Day of Prayer will include pastors from throughout the county, the Beavercreek Fire Department Honor Guard and the Pledge of Allegiance led by Master Sgt. Stafford Fox. Kay Bond, Greene County Prayer Coalition, will close and lead in the singing of "God Bless America." For more information, call (937) 902-4300.
The University of Dayton will toll the Immaculate Conception Chapel bells several times: at 8:46 a.m. to coincide with American Airlines Flight 11 hitting the World Trade Center; at 9:03 a.m. to coincide with Flight 175 hitting the World Trade Center; at 9:37 a.m. to coincide with American Airlines Flight 77 hitting the Pentagon; at 10:03 a.m. to coincide with United Airlines Flight 93 crashing. At 9:10 p.m., a candlelight vigil will be held at Humanities Plaza with prayers for UD-related victims.
The Butler County Chiefs of Police Association will hold a memorial service at noon on the steps of the Butler County Court House, on Court Street. There will be a 21-gun salute, bagpipes and prayers for the victims. The public is invited.
On Sunday, Sept. 14, in Huber Heights, the Miami Valley Young Marines, the military services and community organizations, will hold a remembrance day on the grounds of St. Peter Church, 6161 Chambersburg Road, at 3 p.m. The public is invited. Parking is across the street. There will also be a release of 2,947 helium balloons by everyone ("souls to heaven") as the final event. For more information, call (937) 657-7813.
http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/09/10/ddn091008september11.html
Martin: A day that belongs to all
Seven years ago today?
No one in my family died. My home wasn’t destroyed. Nothing happened to me.
Others weren’t so lucky.
There was a time I was ashamed to recount my experience on September 11, 2001. I felt I had nothing to share. I was a blessed bystander at the site of astonishing suffering and destruction. All I did was watch, mostly from my bedroom window, looking out at smoke and down on racing pedestrians, from 17 stories above the city. Emotions ranged beyond sadness—especially that first day—to anger, confusion and fear.
I witnessed only some of that emotion on September 11, but much more in the days and weeks that followed. I left school that day, shepherded by my father, who was as scared as I’ve never seen him before (or since). I watched my mother light candles that night, mournful and hurt, already missing the world she had known for 45 years.
There was a time when I felt I should not speak about the event. Had I really seen or felt anything that was worth sharing? Certainly it should have been discussed then, but I was not the one who should speak of it. It belonged to those who had lost and been hurt, who were missing parents, siblings or children, and to those who had seen and helped the dead and dying. On a day when 3,000 people were murdered, I had experienced nothing. I was lucky.
Seven years have now passed. Today I’m 19. Older, perhaps wiser and well removed from what happened seven autumns ago, I now believe I have a story worth sharing.
It’s a story shared by millions, since it is the story of a city. The terrorist attack was not an abstract assault or an inventory of physical destruction. It was mass murder, and its human cost was the destruction of families, lifelong sadness for tens of thousands of people and a previously unknown fear. New Yorkers saw the suffering up close, while the rest of the world watched from a distance.
I witnessed sadness, anger and fear in my parents, and in my teachers, and in adults all around me, as the city and everyone in it were forced to instantly understand that nothing was safe; no life could be protected from all the world’s danger and evil; no home was a haven. I wasn’t scared that day (too young to comprehend how much had changed in one morning), but I’ve come to understand why the grown-ups were.
Since then, I’ve spent four anniversaries of the date in my hometown, where the towers fell, and two in New Haven. Today marks the seventh time I will wonder why I’m going to class, why we’re not all at home with our families, and why we aren’t taking time, personally or as a nation, to give our singular attention to our loved ones on a date so important in our history.
It’s hard to be away from home on September 11. Last year was especially difficult, since the University-organized vigil in remembrance of the event was perverted into a political sermon built on accusations of inadequate patriotism. On that day, we were to remember the dead and to pause, cherishing with faith or with empathy for fellow humans the gifts of life, community and love that those of us still alive continue to share. But nothing of that was done. I can only hope that this year Yale shows better judgment in its memorial.
For the rest of the day, memorial will have to come from within. Each of us must remember for ourselves — if we choose. Each of us must remember for ourselves — if we choose. Each of us can pause to think about what happened, what was lost and those who suffered. We don’t need to do so, and we can’t be forced to, but I believe such action is appropriate.
There was a time when I believed September 11 belonged to those it had hurt the most. I felt I shouldn’t tell my story because others had suffered more. On a day of death, nothing less mattered.
Seven years later, I feel the opposite. September 11 is now and will always be an anniversary. It marks the years since my city, our country and the world experienced something they had not known before.
The event for which we remember September 11 affected not only the thousands who lost the most, but also, and importantly, the millions in New York who directly experienced the event and its aftermath, the tens and hundreds of millions who watched and empathized from around the country and the world and the billions who entered a new era of world history.
September 11 belongs to no single group — it belongs to us all.
Take time to reflect today. Remember where you were seven years ago, and what you experienced. Or recall what others felt, what others lost. This day marks an anniversary that we honor best when we remember together.
http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/25058
Several special memorials are being held today, September 11, 2008, the seventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
New York City--Ground Zero
(New York) AP – U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is among those taking part in the September 11 commemoration this year in New York, where over 2,700 people were killed.
Chertoff is scheduled to deliver a reading. Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani will also speak at the ceremony, as he has every year in New York.
Current Mayor Michael Bloomberg and current New York and New Jersey governors--David Paterson and Jon Corzine, respectively--are also expected to speak.
The list of names of those who died will be read by family members and students who represent the countries who lost their nationals.
Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain are also attending.
The two nominees will pay silent respects at Ground Zero, and then attend a New York City forum on public service.
McCain and Obama plan to visit the site Thursday afternoon, after the service finishes. The candidates had agreed weeks ago to pull their campaign ads for the day.
Hundreds of bikers recently escorted part of the World Trade Center's North Tower to the site so it could be part of the ceremony. It's 14 feet high and weighs 3,000 pounds.
Days ago, workers started installing steel for a memorial and museum there. It is expected to be finished by September 11, 2011.
White House Commemoration; Pentagon Memorial
(Washington) AP - At 8:46 a.m., President Bush will mark seven years since the September 11 attacks with a moment of silence at the White House.
That's the exact minute the first hijacked airplane slammed into the World Trade Center in 2001. Every year since then, Bush has stood in silence on the South Lawn to remember the nearly 3,000 people who died at the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon, and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
That ceremony will include a wreath laying, music and a reading of the names of those who died on Flight 77 and inside the building.
Bush will also be on hand to dedicate a new memorial at the Pentagon, the first major installation for those who died there.
The Pentagon memorial has 184 benches over small reflecting pools, one for each life lost. It's built on an angle parallel to the path that the American airlines flight took just before it crashed into the west wall of the building.
This is now one of the most guarded sites in the country. One to two million people are expected to visit it each year. This memorial will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Plane Crash Site
People will also gather in Shanksville, Pennsylvania at the site where 40 passengers and crew members died when United Flight 93 crashed.
John McCain is also expected to attend that memorial.
Rochester Area Memorials
There are also a number of Rochester-area remembrance events.
- Brockport Fire Dept. is holding their 7th annual 9/11 Vigil from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. There will be ceremonies at 8 a.m. and noon.
- Monroe Community College is holding its annual Sept. 11 commemoration at 8 a.m. at MCC's Remembrance Walk on the Brighton Campus.
- The town of Irondequoit commemorates the September 11 Anniversary with a ceremony at Town Hall at 8:30 a.m.
- Rochester Police Department is holding a ceremony at the Public Safely Building atrium at 9:30 a.m.
- The Red Cross 9/11 Blood Drive, sponsored by 13WHAM and CW16 is being held at the RIT Inn and Conference Center from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., 5257 West Henrietta Road.
- The Greece Ridge Fire Department is holding its 7th Annual 9/11 Memorial Service will be held at 10 a.m., at department headquarters, 1299 Long Pond Road
- The town of Victor, Ontario County is holding a brief ceremony at Mead Square Park on Main Street, at 12:30 p.m.
- The Rochester Fire Department is holding a Memorial Mass to honor fallen and current firefighters at Sacred Heart Cathedral at 7 p.m.
- Perinton VFW Post No. 8495, Freedom Hill, 300 Macedon Center Road (31F), 7 p.m.
- Webster, Veteran's Memorial Park, North Avenue, 7 p.m.
- 9/11 Truth Movement documentary by Alex Jones "Truth Rising" at The Cinema theatre 957 S. Clinton, 7 p.m., doors open at 6:30 p.m.
The years have flown by..... My thoughts and prayers are with lost ones and their families on this day.
