On Sept. 11, 2001, a field near Shanksville became a shrine — both battlefield and resting place for the passengers and crew of United 93, the fourth plane hijacked by terrorists that day.
The official memorial didn’t open until the 10th anniversary of the attacks, but that was just ceremony. As Abraham Lincoln said in his Gettysburg Address, dedicating another Pennsylvania field turned graveyard, the 40 souls lost on that airliner “have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.”
Every year on that anniversary, people remember what happened. They gather at the memorial, listening to the resonant chimes that represent the voices of the heroes whose sacrifice prevented the fourth plane from reaching another intended target.
There are speeches. There are politicians and leaders. There is solemnity and reverence as we try to reach back and achieve the sense of unity that we found in our grief on that day.
Today, the 19th anniversary of the attacks, that was to happen again. But it will happen in a contentious election year with both presidential candidates having announced plans to visit the shrine. It will happen in a state that is filled to the brim with coveted swing votes.
Let us hope that everyone — Democrat and Republican, candidates and supporters — can place the significance of the day ahead of the stump speeches. Even more important, the location should hold voices to an appropriate tone.
There are other days for shouting. There are other days to attack someone’s integrity or call them names. There are other days for the brutal bloodsport that has become our political arena.
But not Sept. 11. On this day, we should reach out rather than strike out. On this day, we should be the better angels that we wish we were on other days.
Because, to borrow from Lincoln again, “the world will little note nor long remember what we say here but it can never forget what they did here.”
The United 93 memorial is holy ground and Sept. 11 is a holy day.
We — all of us — owe it to the 40 souls who hallowed it to keep it that way.
