On the recordSeptember 13, 2010
I rise today with the heaviest of hearts to observe the ninth anniversary of the terrible tragedy that befell our country on September 11, 2001, and changed America--and Americans-- forever. We remember those whom we lost that terrible day, but also celebrate the freedoms we cherish and which make our nation the greatest in the world. On this September 11, as on all that have preceded it, we mourned the loss of those eight individuals from Maine who were taken from us all too soon--Anna Allison, Carol Flyzik, Robert Jalbert, Jacqueline Norton, Robert Norton, James Roux, Robert Schlegel, and Stephen Ward. We remember the heroic acts of valor that will always distinguish the thousands of men and women who went to work that day, or boarded a plane, or rushed to the aid of strangers whose lives they believed were as vital as their own. Indeed, if 9/11 was a snapshot of horror, it also became a portrait of consummate humanity.
