Elon marked the first anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks with a solemn, yet uplifting community gathering in a packed Alumni Gym. Other events were planned throughout the day. Details...
More than 2,500 students, faculty and staff joined together in Alumni Gym for a 45-minute gathering to commemorate the anniversary. With music provided by the Elon University Camerata and the fifth grade class from Elon Elementary School, the community paused to remember the victims, honor the heroes and consider the ways each person can contribute to the ideal of world peace.
Students sat on the floor and in the bleachers as President Leo M. Lambert offered the welcome and Chaplain Richard McBride gave the invocation.
“This morning, O God, we remember that one year ago terrible things happened that made us feel afraid,” McBride said. “But we are also here to recall many heroic deeds — personal acts of compassion — that appeared on the day and the days to follow. We are grateful that when evil deeds were done, our fellow citizens responded to restore what was broken and to bring healing to those who were wounded.”
Three speakers offered their perspectives on the 9/11 attacks and their impact on mankind and our perception of the world around us. Paul Parsons, dean of the School of Communications, said the attacks have given him a new sense of the terror some parts of the world live with each day.
“Nationally, we lost our sense of security, and I now better appreciate those who live in troubled lands around our globe, who wonder each day if this will be a safe street to walk down, or a safe bus to board. I’ve never had to live that way. I don’t want to live that way.”
SGA President Christian Wiggins said the attacks made it clear that a broad view of the world is essential for Americans to understand the movtivation behind them.
“We truly have to be global citizens to comprehend this unfamiliar culture and world view in order to respond to it. Without a broader understanding and knowledge of how cultures interact, we are just as inadequately prepared to live in a world where boundaries are not walls and customs and beliefs transcend borders.”
Ann Cahill, assistant professor of philosophy, challenged the audience to honor the memories of those who died by considering new ways of thinking and renouncing violence.
“Bearing real witness to suffering, I think, means being open to some things that we do not currently know…If our response to tragedy is nothing but an immediate certainty that our prior beliefs were correct, we have remained unmoved. We have refused the humility that bearing witness requires.”
The gathering ended with fifth-graders from Elon Elementary singing “Let There be Peace on Earth” and the retiring of the colors by the Elon ROTC color guard. Senior Yasmeen Girardeau was moved by the song. “That’s when it hit me. That’s what today’s all about.”
Senior Jay Perry, a member of Sigma Chi fraternity, was there with several other fraternity brothers. They all wore shirts bearing the names of seven Sigma Chi brothers who died in the attacks. “I feel like I’m mourning with people who lost people.”
Other students said they felt a sense of duty to pause and reflect on the events of September 11. “I think it’s our obligation as citizens to remember the people who died,” said senior Brent Maropis. Freshman Jim Saia echoed those thoughts. “I felt like it was my patriotic duty,” Saia said.
Many Elon students are wearing remembrance bracelets this week, bearing the name of a victim they have chosen to honor. President Lambert asked everyone to take a moment during the gathering to share something about their victim with the people seated around them.
“We want to remember the victims as people, as individuals, fathers, mothers, children, brothers, sisters and friends,” Lambert said. “People who mattered to people, people whose loved ones are still grieving.”
After a picnic lunch near Lake Mary Nell, students still had several other opportunities to remember September 11. A room is open in the Isabella Cannon Centre for International Studies in Carlton building for students to watch news coverage of the day’s events on the major networks. The reading of victims’ names resumed at 1:30 p.m. on the front portico of Moseley campus center, and will continue until the 8 p.m. candlelight vigil on Young Commons.