This week marks the 22nd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist bombing of America.
It is right and it is just and it is fitting to recall this anniversary.
Everett suffered a double loss that day with the deaths of James and Mary Trentini, residents here for many years who died on the first airliner to smash into the Twin Towers.
The 9/11 tragedy is the first time in modern American history when our nation was directly attacked, when thousands of innocents perished at the hands of maniacal terrorists determined to bring our society down.
They brought down the Twin Towers in New York City.
They exploded a part of the Pentagon.
They were thwarted by Americans who fought back until a jetliner crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.
The toll of firefighters and police dead in New York City as a result of the Twin Towers coming down as first responders heroically gave up their lives to save others trapped inside those doomed buildings is one of the most unforgettable instances of selfless sacrifice that our generation has experienced.
The emptiness of those who lost loved ones on that day can be assuaged.
The loss, the sense of loss, the terrible loss just echoes on and many times during the years that pass by, and especially on 9/11, the loss is squarely met by those who suffered the death of loved ones on that fateful day.
The 9/11 losses expanded over time to include the brave dead and wounded who served in Iraq and in Afghanistan in those faraway wars in faraway lands intended to crush the terrorist plague that looked as though it might overwhelm us.
A decade was spent hunting down the architect and chief mover behind the terrorist attacks on 9/11.
Osama bin Laden has been reduced to ash and dust after being hunted down like the animal he was by a heroic US Navy Seal Team. Some of the chief perpetrators remain at the US military base in Guantanamo, Cuba.
They have been held there for two decades and hopefully those responsible for the 9/11 terrorist acts will die slow miserable deaths in captivity.
Our nation rearmed itself against the Middle Eastern bred and financed terrorist wave that was sweeping the world in the aftermath of the 9/11 bombings.
We are a much safer place today than when the terrorists flew planes into the Twin Towers.
The Twin Towers were one of the symbols of American capitalism and freedom.
Their stupendous collapse, brought to us on live television, changed our outlook about needed to be done to protect ourselves. We might have gone a bit overboard, as some Americans try to make the case, but then, after nearly 3,000 innocents died senselessly what was a great nation to do?
American heroism in the face of international terrorism never wavered after these attacks.
Our remembrance of 9/11 year to year is a moment to reflect about the dead and to honor the living who aided each other on that day of infamy.
We cannot let down our guard against those who detest us and our way of life and who wish to destroy our society.
9/11 proved this.
The yearly remembrance keeps the cause of freedom and liberty alive.
Our respects to all those who suffered a loss on that day 22 years ago.
All of us suffered a loss on that day.