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
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DennisQ | Sep 18, 2010, 06:03 PM EDT
Popularity has nothing to do with the application of the laws of physics, maloney. If that were the case, we wouldn't have to clear the sidewalk of snow in the winter. We'd just take a vote, and the snow would melt by itself!
I can think of all kinds of applications. You wouldn't need to demolish buildings, you'd just set them on fire. Down they go, neat as a pin, seven hours later. That would definitely get my vote.
I can think of all kinds of applications. You wouldn't need to demolish buildings, you'd just set them on fire. Down they go, neat as a pin, seven hours later. That would definitely get my vote.
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maloney | Sep 17, 2010, 04:31 PM EDT
dennis ...9/11 truther, look it up. Not a popular perch.
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DennisQ | Sep 16, 2010, 10:25 PM EDT
The point here is not to replace an absurd hypothesis with an equally absurd hypothesis, maloney. It's to continue the investigation until you get believable answers. We're not there yet.
Building Seven, a 47-storey steel framed skyscraper, did not simply catch fire and burn to the ground like an old barn. If that's your belief, good luck to you, but there's no reason for anyone to share that belief. Personally, it seems too improbable to me.
The support columns had to fail in a particular sequence and tempo in order for the building to collapse as neatly and quickly as it did. Each of those failures is a separate and non-trivial event. The fact that they failed as if on cue suggests that some intelligence was directing them. When you reject the "on cue" hypothesis, you're saying that this sequence happened at random. That's very anomalous.
Building Seven, a 47-storey steel framed skyscraper, did not simply catch fire and burn to the ground like an old barn. If that's your belief, good luck to you, but there's no reason for anyone to share that belief. Personally, it seems too improbable to me.
The support columns had to fail in a particular sequence and tempo in order for the building to collapse as neatly and quickly as it did. Each of those failures is a separate and non-trivial event. The fact that they failed as if on cue suggests that some intelligence was directing them. When you reject the "on cue" hypothesis, you're saying that this sequence happened at random. That's very anomalous.
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maloney | Sep 16, 2010, 09:27 PM EDT
Bush blew up all three of the towers. Are you happy now?
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DennisQ | Sep 16, 2010, 06:38 PM EDT
The support columns conveniently failed in the correct sequence - one right after the other in an apparently orchestrated tempo - so that the roof maintained its integrity as it fell to the ground at accelerating speed. These are wildly improbable outcomes of a random process such as a building fire. You're interpreting the events as inevitable simply because that's what happened, but not giving sufficient thought to the randomness of the combination of these events.
You're using the million monkeys argument here, hancock. You're saying that because a combination of unlikely events happened, then the probability couldn't have been as low as it appears. After all, it did happen! However, that's your argument, not mine.
I'll go with the choreography argument that the skeptics are raising. Random processes don't produce non-random results - not just not very often, but never.
You're using the million monkeys argument here, hancock. You're saying that because a combination of unlikely events happened, then the probability couldn't have been as low as it appears. After all, it did happen! However, that's your argument, not mine.
I'll go with the choreography argument that the skeptics are raising. Random processes don't produce non-random results - not just not very often, but never.
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hancock | Sep 16, 2010, 12:59 AM EDT
BLDG 7 WENT DOWN BECAUSE ITS STEEL SKELETON, AND LIGHTWEIGHT STEEL CONTRUCTION THAT SUPPORTED THE FLS WERE WEAKENED BY 40 FLS OF FIRE FOR 7 HOURS.
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maloney | Sep 15, 2010, 09:15 PM EDT
dennisq... I suppose this evidence also makes obama a christian. Building 7 it has been found out went down because of illegal mexicans tunneling under the building. It is said they were loking for muslim IED's.
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DennisQ | Sep 15, 2010, 08:35 PM EDT
Call it the "anomaly of the accelerating roof" if you like. It doesn't go away simply because you can't find a satisfactory explanation. The accelerating roof is like a 50º ice cube - there's no reason it should exist, but there it is.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) hasn't done a good job explaining the anomaly of the accelerating roof. Instead of answering questions, they raise more questions by declaring their calculations a national secret. In one sense it's not anomalous for a government agency to withhold information from the people - but in this case it's easy to see that the roof is accelerating. Photographs taken at equal intervals clearly show that the rate of collapse is increasing not remaining constant.
You don't need alternative explanations to see that questions about the September 11th attacks have not been answered. That's an unfair burden. So long as the anomaly of the accelerating roof remains an anomaly, we still don't know what happened that day. And we shouldn't be told that these matters are settled.
By the way, maloney, Building Seven - the one with the anomalous roof - was not hit by a plane.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) hasn't done a good job explaining the anomaly of the accelerating roof. Instead of answering questions, they raise more questions by declaring their calculations a national secret. In one sense it's not anomalous for a government agency to withhold information from the people - but in this case it's easy to see that the roof is accelerating. Photographs taken at equal intervals clearly show that the rate of collapse is increasing not remaining constant.
You don't need alternative explanations to see that questions about the September 11th attacks have not been answered. That's an unfair burden. So long as the anomaly of the accelerating roof remains an anomaly, we still don't know what happened that day. And we shouldn't be told that these matters are settled.
By the way, maloney, Building Seven - the one with the anomalous roof - was not hit by a plane.
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hancock | Sep 15, 2010, 11:31 AM EDT
Dennis answer the question. What about the forty fls of fire that burned for 7 hrs ?
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manhattan | Sep 15, 2010, 10:00 AM EDT
OK, I have decided to come clean on what I saw that day. I saw Bush and Chaney push the buildings over. You see things were getting boring in Washington so, they decided to attack. They hired 19 arabs, brought them to CIA headquarters where they told the 19 that if they didn't fly into the Towers,The Pentagon and Oh Shucks, they missed the Capitol where all those annoying Democrats are. We told them if they didn't do this that there would not be 70 virgins waiting for them when they die. I will call Washington today to admit what I saw.....
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maloney | Sep 14, 2010, 03:06 PM EDT
dennisq...back your tape up a little more & watch the planes fry into the buildings. I suppose Bush & Chaney were the pilots.
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maloney | Sep 14, 2010, 03:00 PM EDT
dennisq...had I known you would go back to the conspiracy crap, if building A trips over the moon then Bush sank the Titanic crap I wouldn't have posted. Everyone in the world knows muslim terrorists did it, including the muslims, yet you rattle on. Turn the record over, PLEASE.
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DennisQ | Sep 13, 2010, 10:51 PM EDT
Have you looked at the video of Building Seven collapsing, maloney? It appears to be picking up speed as it falls. In fact, scientists who have actually measured the collapse report that it does indeed pick up speed.
Are you going to be among those who refuse to accept the evidence of their own eyes simply because of that this acceleration might signify? If you are, it explains the other bizarre beliefs you've posted here.
Are you going to be among those who refuse to accept the evidence of their own eyes simply because of that this acceleration might signify? If you are, it explains the other bizarre beliefs you've posted here.
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maloney | Sep 13, 2010, 08:32 PM EDT
dennisq...the tooth fairy is gay, santa is a terrorist & obama likes white people.
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