The 9th Anniversary of 9/11: a million reasons to be hopeful
Posted on Thursday, September 09, 2010 at 02:06 PM
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With the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks upon us, it’s hard to avoid the sense that there is an angry edge to what had, in the past, been a somber, solemn occasion.
Yes, a big part of this is the roiling debate over the proposed mosque near Ground Zero. This debate shows no signs of going away any time soon.
Whatever you happen to believe about the mosque proposal, most decent folks agree that September 11 is a day to set aside such differences and remember the sacrifices made in lower Manhattan on that sad day.
Trouble is, it’s getting harder and harder to focus only on the acts of bravery and valiance.
You’ve got hate preachers such as Bill Keller traveling to Ground Zero to put on an ugly show.
You’ve got ailing first responders still suffering from the effects of the work they did at the pile.
And you’ve got all manner of conspiracy theorists still trying to figure out whether it was President Bush or the United Nations or some other evil genius who actually toppled the buildings that day, rather than al-Qaeda.
In short, it’s increasingly difficult to follow the noble example of service and sacrifice set on that terrible day nine years ago.
Thankfully, we have the Lynch family to remind us.
“We always knew we wanted to make something good out of evil,” Jack Lynch said in an interview this past weekend.
Lynch, a Kerry native, is the father of Michael Francis Lynch, a Bronx-born firefighter who had been assigned to a firehouse in his native borough. On September 11, 2001, however, Michael had been rotated to a Manhattan house. He was one of a dozen firefighters to die from that house when the towers fell.
“Even before we found Michael,” Jack Lynch added, “we knew we wanted to do something positive.”
It was not until March 2002 that Michael’s remains were identified, in part because of the green Celtic Cross on his shoulder. It was said that Michael’s remains were intertwined with that of another person, indicating he’d been assisting this person at the time of the collapse.
In the weeks and months which followed 9/11, the Lynch family -- Jack and his Sligo-born wife, Kathleen, raised 10 children -- decided to start a college scholarship fund in Michael’s name. To date, the Michael Lynch Memorial has granted well over $1 million in scholarship money to children of FDNY families, as well as victims of 9/11, or other fires or disasters.
“It’s actually closer to a million and a half now,” Lynch notes with understandable pride.
Kaitlyn Hurley, one of the recipients of a grant from the Michael Lynch Foundation, recently said, “My family and I are extremely grateful to receive this award. This grant will aid in the pursuit of my nursing education. I only hope that I can make a difference by helping others like Michael Lynch and the FDNY have.”
In this sense, despite the terrible loss they have endured, the Lynches have done something so many of us have been unable to do. They have risen above the day-to-day squabbles which inevitably distract us in this post-9/11 world and continued to set an example of service and dedication and sacrifice.
Indeed, the Michael Lynch Foundation (www.mlynch.org) is very much a family affair, with each of Mike’s brothers and sisters playing integral roles.
For example, the ninth annual Lynch Foundation golf outing will be held on September 17 at Pelham Bay Golf Course in the Bronx. That event, along with many others throughout the year, is organized by Michael’s brother Thomas.
Other family members handle the scholarship application process, the foundation’s legal business, its website and more.
All of this volunteer work is crucial, Jack Lynch notes, because running the memorial “is a lot work.”
But he also notes, “The other thing that I think is really important is that 98% of the money we receive goes directly to the students. I think that’s appealing to a lot of people.”
This September 11, we should not only remember the valiant sacrifices of Michael Lynch and his fallen comrades.
We should also strive to emulate the Lynch family, who remind us that the most noble thing we can do is simply try to make the world a better place.
(Contact at tomdeignan@earthlink.net or facebook.com/tomdeignan)
34 comments
hancock | Sep 13, 2010, 02:58 PM EDT
What about the forty fls of fire that burned for 7 hrs?
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DennisQ | Sep 13, 2010, 03:26 AM EDT
Something radically discontinuous happened on September 11th, and there's been a heroic effort to push away the evidence. People who are asked to do nothing more stressful than look at the Building Seven collapse video refuse to do so because its apparent freefall acceleration implies something very frightening. It's much easier to believe that the laws of physics took the day off that day.
A golf outing is staid, bourgeois and reassuring, especially a charity golf outing with proceeds that go for scholarships. It re-establishes continuities, suggesting that our lives aren't really changed by September 11th. That's why we hear it described in glowing terms like healing . . . . positive . . . . honored . . . . cherished . . . . . There's no "turning and turning in the widening gyre" here, thank you.
A golf outing is staid, bourgeois and reassuring, especially a charity golf outing with proceeds that go for scholarships. It re-establishes continuities, suggesting that our lives aren't really changed by September 11th. That's why we hear it described in glowing terms like healing . . . . positive . . . . honored . . . . cherished . . . . . There's no "turning and turning in the widening gyre" here, thank you.
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ForensicOne2be | Sep 12, 2010, 07:34 AM EDT
I think the Lynch family is wonderful. Bravo to them for doing something positive. Their awards have reached deserving people, I'm sure. But. Sometimes healing begins sooner for some than for others. Meanwhile, those who sacrificed their lives on 9/11, whether willing or not, deserve to be cherished, honored and remembered with respect. Peace.
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DennisQ | Sep 12, 2010, 04:04 AM EDT
You don't have to believe in a government conspiracy to find mistakes in the 9/11 Commission report, Ajreaper. Don't take my word for it - Check for yourself that the report claims the South Tower collapsed in 10 seconds - a physical impossibility. It would take 10 seconds for a hammer to land from that height, much less a building that is collapsing into its own lower floors.
Unfortunately, the government won't change a word of the 9/11 report. In fact, they've decided to make their calculations top secret. So here's a question for you. Would you rather stay loyal to the government and take these impossible claims at face value . . . or would you rather admit they made a mistake?
There aren't a lot of options here. When the government makes statements that defy the laws of physics, they can't possibly be correct.
Go to the report, you'll see this statement at the bottom of page 305:
"At 9:58:59, the South Tower collapsed in ten seconds, killing all civilians and emergency personnel inside, as well a number of individuals-both first responders and civilians-in the concourse, in the Marriott, and on neighboring streets. The building collapsed into itself, causing a ferocious windstorm and creating a massive debris cloud. . . . "
Unfortunately, the government won't change a word of the 9/11 report. In fact, they've decided to make their calculations top secret. So here's a question for you. Would you rather stay loyal to the government and take these impossible claims at face value . . . or would you rather admit they made a mistake?
There aren't a lot of options here. When the government makes statements that defy the laws of physics, they can't possibly be correct.
Go to the report, you'll see this statement at the bottom of page 305:
"At 9:58:59, the South Tower collapsed in ten seconds, killing all civilians and emergency personnel inside, as well a number of individuals-both first responders and civilians-in the concourse, in the Marriott, and on neighboring streets. The building collapsed into itself, causing a ferocious windstorm and creating a massive debris cloud. . . . "
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Ajreaper | Sep 11, 2010, 11:00 PM EDT
Dennis anyone who believes 9/11 was a government conspiracy is a nutt job, period.
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DennisQ | Sep 11, 2010, 07:06 PM EDT
Ajreaper, we were attacked by Shinto's on December 7, 1941, a day that is said to live in infamy. However, we don't look back on Pearl Harbor Day for its religious significance, because we understand that the attack was political.
September 11th marks the anniversary of a similarly political event. However, people are placing lighted candles in front of firehouses as if the significance of the day were entirely religious. I don't agree with that interpretation, but I wouldn't go as far as you do in characterizing people who see things differently.
September 11th marks the anniversary of a similarly political event. However, people are placing lighted candles in front of firehouses as if the significance of the day were entirely religious. I don't agree with that interpretation, but I wouldn't go as far as you do in characterizing people who see things differently.
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DennisQ | Sep 11, 2010, 06:22 PM EDT
Actually, manhattan, there's very little "proof" as such of what we're supposed to believe happened on September 11th. None of these cases have gone to court except for the hapless Zararias Moussaoui, who appears to have been railroaded.
I haven't endorsed any particular theory of the events of September 11th. However, given the choice between an unlikely theory and an impossible one, the unlikely theory has the advantage at least that it can happen. The so-called "official" theory of September 11th requires believers to accept the notion that buildings can fall down into themselves at the speed of gravity. That is simply a physical impossibility. There will never be a time when an event like that will happen or can happen. Take your pick, faith or science. For explanation of physical efvents, I'll go with science. Good luck to you with faith on your next construction job.
I haven't endorsed any particular theory of the events of September 11th. However, given the choice between an unlikely theory and an impossible one, the unlikely theory has the advantage at least that it can happen. The so-called "official" theory of September 11th requires believers to accept the notion that buildings can fall down into themselves at the speed of gravity. That is simply a physical impossibility. There will never be a time when an event like that will happen or can happen. Take your pick, faith or science. For explanation of physical efvents, I'll go with science. Good luck to you with faith on your next construction job.
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Ajreaper | Sep 11, 2010, 06:18 PM EDT
Geez why can't the nutt jobs online take a day off sometime?
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manhattan | Sep 11, 2010, 11:14 AM EDT
Dennis Q, I would love to take that nail and hammer it into your sick brain. There is so much proof of who committed the atrocities of 9/11 that you and your fellow cool aid drinkers will not accept because it wasn't the work of our Goverment, and that you hope will be the case. Guess what? IT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN.
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DennisQ | Sep 11, 2010, 03:58 AM EDT
I don't know who was behind the attacks, manhattan - and neither do you. We were told in the morning of September 11th who did it and why. The story was all ready to go, and the government was so pleased with it that nine years have gone by with no change at all to the story.
I'm not sure what to make of that, but it doesn't inspire confidence. However, it's not true that the government didn't change anything about the story - they did! They started out with the notion that the floors fell down one at a time on top of each other, but they realized that this would have taken at least four times longer than the actual time it took. Now that they've got new data and new theories, they're not sharing that information with the scientific community. You can't FOIA it; it's a state secret.
The secrecy does not inspire confidence any more than the stubborn refusal to update the extremely early information. So we're left with what we can surmise based on information that the government can't hide - the videos and pictures of the buildings themselves. And they lead to still more loss of confidence.
Perhaps the tenth anniversary will see the beginnings of a broad-based demand to finally get the truth from the government. All we've seen so far this year is shameless demagoguery on the part of Newt Gingrich and the pastor in Florida who wants to burn the Koran.
I'm not sure what to make of that, but it doesn't inspire confidence. However, it's not true that the government didn't change anything about the story - they did! They started out with the notion that the floors fell down one at a time on top of each other, but they realized that this would have taken at least four times longer than the actual time it took. Now that they've got new data and new theories, they're not sharing that information with the scientific community. You can't FOIA it; it's a state secret.
The secrecy does not inspire confidence any more than the stubborn refusal to update the extremely early information. So we're left with what we can surmise based on information that the government can't hide - the videos and pictures of the buildings themselves. And they lead to still more loss of confidence.
Perhaps the tenth anniversary will see the beginnings of a broad-based demand to finally get the truth from the government. All we've seen so far this year is shameless demagoguery on the part of Newt Gingrich and the pastor in Florida who wants to burn the Koran.
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DennisQ | Sep 11, 2010, 02:53 AM EDT
Here's something we know about the law of conservation of momentum - it does not go AWOL at any time. If there appears to be a contradiction between reported data and the known laws of physics, there's something wrong with the data.
The people who have died are not going to be resurrected by believing in the truth of something that is false on the face of it. The dead are where they are for good or for ill. There's nothing we can do to honor or dishonor them.
Here's an experiment you can do yourself with a hammer, a nail and a board. Tap the nail in a small distance, then give it a whack with the hammer. The resistance of that board wasn't enough to keep the nail from moving, but it was enough to stop the hammer. That's the principle of the conservation of momentum.
The hammer does not keep moving until it hits wood; it stops when the amount of momentum in a single swing is expended.
If you believe that buildings can fall into themselves at the speed of gravity, this means that you do not believe in the law of the conservation of momentum. But don't take my word for it! Go ahead and try out your theory on a construction site.
The people who have died are not going to be resurrected by believing in the truth of something that is false on the face of it. The dead are where they are for good or for ill. There's nothing we can do to honor or dishonor them.
Here's an experiment you can do yourself with a hammer, a nail and a board. Tap the nail in a small distance, then give it a whack with the hammer. The resistance of that board wasn't enough to keep the nail from moving, but it was enough to stop the hammer. That's the principle of the conservation of momentum.
The hammer does not keep moving until it hits wood; it stops when the amount of momentum in a single swing is expended.
If you believe that buildings can fall into themselves at the speed of gravity, this means that you do not believe in the law of the conservation of momentum. But don't take my word for it! Go ahead and try out your theory on a construction site.
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hancock | Sep 11, 2010, 12:54 AM EDT
COO-KOO.
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Andrew.W | Sep 10, 2010, 10:13 PM EDT
9/11 was a false flag operation carried out by mossad and the cia, those towers didn't disintegrate unaided, they were blown to smitherines.
There is also a third highrise that fell that day, building 7. Apart from being an obvious implosion, it fell at freefall for over 2 seconds which is undeniable proof that the columns were removed, and the only known mechanism for achieving this is with cutter charges.
I urge all readers to go to youtube and have another look at the collapse of those towers and, importantly, building 7.
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Padraig | Sep 10, 2010, 04:18 PM EDT
DennisQ. You shame people who have already died. There is no definition in the language of man that would define your type. i quake for mankind when a man like you has power.
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God's pretty powerful. Jesus walked on water; betcha you couldn't do that. And there weren't any conspiracy theorists around to say he didn't do it. And when God parted the Red Sea so the Israelites could flee the Pharaoh's army, they didn't need any Commission to explain what happened.
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