From the Desk of Senator Jack M. Martins: Please Join Me for a Memorial Ceremony on September 11, 2023

It’s been 22 years since the 9-11 attacks and I can’t help but notice how different things are now. In the immediate aftermath and for the weeks and months that followed, we were proud to be Americans. It didn’t matter where you came from, what faith you practiced, or what your politics were. An attack on one of us was an attack on all of us and the adversity made one thing clear: we were Americans first.

We need to remember those things that bring us together, remember that there's more that unites us than keeps us apart.

That’s why 9-11 memorial ceremonies are so important. Of course, we need to honor our dead and bring a measure of peace to friends and neighbors. But memorials offer us more. They remind us how firefighters, police and emergency workers rushed into an inferno to save us. They honor doctors and nurses who worked countless hours for weeks on end to save us. They recall the everyday people who selflessly got on “the pile” to look for complete strangers. Most of all, they teach us that innocent neighbors did not die in vain, that from that darkness sprang something beautiful, one of our finest hours - a time when we found common purpose.

Do we remember? Do our children know?

If you want to keep that memory alive, this invitation is for you. Come join us and bring your friends, your family, even your kids – anyone who needs to hear about the spirit we shared after 9-11. We’ll do our best to capture it, together.