REMEMBERING 9/11: 20 Years Later ��������
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September, 2021
3DVWRUDO 3HUVSHFWLYHV (Sept. 19, 2001) Our hope begins with our seeing the effect of evil firsthand BY REV. WADE MERANDA First Presbyterian Church
Look what happened when all of us saw evil clearly.
PHOTO BY WENDY DAVIS Bob Sapienza, Billy Puckett, and Kevin Wallace are helping explain the events around 9/11 as part of the Stephen Siller Foundation’s Tunnel to Towers exhibit.
0HPRU\ RI NHSW DOLYH E\ KHURHV By WENDY DAVIS, Reporter wdavis@ intranix.com From the Oct. 18, 2019 edition of the Times-Republic WATSEKA, IL - September, 11, 2001, is not being forgotten — thanks in part by those people who keep the memory in the forefront and who are educating the youths who were born after the devastation. The Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation exhibit has made its way to Watseka this weekend, bringing it with it three retired firefighters — two of whom helped at the Twin Towers site for days after it came down. Billy Puckett is a retired firefighter from Plano, Texas, and he is friends with the organizer of the foundation, formed in 2002 in dedication of Stephen Siller who died in the effort to save lives that day. Puckett has volunteered his time since 2013. The exhibit makes about 40 stops a year, ranging from 1-14 days each stop. Two retired New York Fire Department firefighters, Bob Sapienza and Kevin Wallace, have traveled to Iroquois County to explain the tragedy of Sept. 11 and to remind visitors to keep the memory of those lost alive. Sapienza retired from the NYFD in 1996 having been a firefighter for 23 years. hough retired, he — along with hundreds
of other retired firefighters — was at the site by 1 p.m. that day. “It was just like you saw it on TV. You’d drive over the George Washington Bridge and look to the right; you couldn’t see towers. All you could see was the smoke.” He got there and worked with a rescue company doing search and rescue. “Just about everybody was on a pile digging.” He said he was there a few days working 22-hour days before he went home. “After that you just can’t do any more. “It just works on you. You do your job. You’d only think about {what happened} when you quit.” Wallace, a former Navyman, had just retired from the NYFD in April of 2001 to begin a second career as a nurse. On Sept. 12 he was called out of retirement to help, and he did just that for two weeks. “Most collapses there are void areas and people survive. We were for sure thinking people would survive. We realized quit quickly there wouldn’t be anyone,” he said. Sapienza and Wallace, who once were neighbors, have been working with the foundation for five years. The reason for doing it — “I don’t want the memory of all those guys to be forgotten,” said Sapienza. “Never forget Sept. 11.” Both men are like a number of responders
at the site; they don’t want to talk about what they saw. They say they do what they do in honor of those lives lost. And, Sapienza pointed out, hundreds have died since the site was cleared from exposures relating to their clean up work. Or, there are many firefighters and police officers who helped at the site who enlisted or reactivated in the service to continue their calling for their country. Both men have noted in their presentation that the kids want to know more, they’re learning about what they were not exposed to. “The biggest thing for me is talking to the kids — how do you explain what happened? You can’t,” said Wallace. “This one day in time made such an impact on lives today, the kids’ lives today.” “They’re the future. They’re the ones who will have to remember,” Sapienza said. Puckett explained that the foundation serves the families of emergency responders and military heroes who have lost their lives. One of the main purposes of the foundation is to make sure the families of the deceased have a home of their own, whether it’s built new or remodeled and the mortgage paid off. The foundation does the same for those who are disabled, creating a home customized to best fit the person’s needs.
For every image of evil smashing into buildings and killing thousands of people, I have seen at least a thousand images of good silently sifting though the rubble of broken buildings, cities, bodies, and families. For every expression of indiscriminate hate, vengeance or revenge, I have heard at least ten expressions of discriminating restraint, patience, and clarity before action. For every quick and easy explanation of evil, I have heard thousands of people conversing, pondering, praying, and searching together for divine insight. For every sad and honest assessment of “what we should have done to prevent it,” I have heard a country repenting of its complacency and blindness yet moving on with a steely resolve to protect itself better. For every gas station that chose to profiteer in our moment of tragedy, I understand hundreds chose not to. For every hurtful act supposedly done in the name of God, thousands of healing acts done in the name of God. For every pre-attack perception that God offers special protection to us “chosen” Americans, that nothing massively bad could possibly happen to our people on our land, I have heard many conversations about our need for a renewed interest and passion for the plight of all God’s creation across every continent - that we are somehow connected. that their struggles need to be our struggles too, that compassion, conversation and debate lead to security, not isolationism and missile shields. Look at what happened this week. For every doubt I have had about the preponderance of goodness in the population, I stand humbled and new. I have seen, like never before in my lifetime, an overwhelming wave of good people pounding down over the evil deeds of a very few individuals. How assuring that has been for me during this week of uncertainty. How heartening it is to really see good respond with its overwhelming force of compassion and restraint. How amazing it is to see this basic goodness in people revealed with such clarity, in all categories of people. After seeing all those who are helping out in so many ways, I hear little talk of these people in terms of their being Christians, Jews, Muslims, Republicans, Democrats, homosexuals or bisexuals, young or old, from the left or right, or of their being black, white or Hispanic, or rich or poor. All of these people are there and are doing good. To see the effects of evil firsthand is disturbing to say the least. When “Thou shall not kill” is violated, those of most every faith are profoundly agitated. Something very basic about the intention of creation is provoked within us. Red flags go up. It seems to awaken our goodness, and we cannot rest until we respond - caring for the victims and stopping the killing. This week, I have seen that so much of our hope begins with our “seeing” the effects of evil firsthand. Here, television and instant media are good for us. Once enough of us brave the sight, or care enough to see and look at the victims, an overwhelming disturbance builds, and our created goodness inevitably moves in to heal the victims and hunt down the source of the evil- the violators - and commence appropriate justice. Hope calls us to have good eyes, persistent looking, a good curiosity, and unfortunately a good stomach to horrific scenes of suffering. Hope calls us to have faith that there are enduring forces of good in the world, which time and time again in history do overwhelm evil when unleashed. Continued on page 18
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Although 16 years have passed, we remember the events of September 11, 2001 as if they happened yesterday. On this day of mourning and remembrance, we pause to pay tribute to the police, firefighters and first responders who made the ultimate sacrifice to save others and to all of the September 11th victims whose lives were cut short.
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