Referring back to the days, weeks and months following September 11,2001, State Representative David Hawk of Greeneville told a Patriot Day gathering outside the Greene County Courthouse today, it’s time to rekindle some of the good feelings from an otherwise dark time in our history.
Hawk was the keynote speaker for the Noon event, twenty-five years after the attacks.
DAVID HAWK COMMENTS
”Thank you, mayor.
It’s always a tremendous honor to be on these courthouse steps and share a word or two with you. What I want to do for you now is talk a little bit about where we were on 9/11 twenty five years ago, where we’ve gone since then and where we are now.
As the mayor mentioned, we must never forget. We must never forget the victims and the heroes who lost their lives due to the cowardly terrorist attack of 9/11. Victims who were simply going to work, just like we’ve done today. And heroes who were simply doing their duty as first responders to the tragedies of that day.
Today and every day, we should honor their memory and their legacy of service, like so many fine men and women who stand before us today.
In addition to never forgetting the victims of 9/11, we must never allow an attack like that to ever happen again on United States soil. That’s one of the best ways that we can honor those victims is to remain ever vigilant, to not allow an attack like that ever again. Remembering that the masterminds of this 9/11 attack infiltrated our country, taking advantage of our better nature frankly then attacking us. We must always remember that it’s a privilege to come to America, where rules must be followed. We also must remember how we felt in those moments, as we experienced this senseless attack, to ensure that our younger generations know that we were once more united than we feel now. I want us to remember that sense of unity that we all felt in the hours and days and weeks after the attack occurred.
Funny story, in a very serious situation, but when I think of the days immediately after 9/11, I think back to my teenage years with my brother. And a former Chief of Police, who I think the statute of limitations has already lapsed so he can’t do anything about it now, but my brother and I were prone to fight. And we would have some knockdown drag out fights in the front yard, and that former chief of police said he should have sold tickets back in the day, he could have gotten 100 bucks a head for watching us argue. We loved each other my brother and I, but at several points in time, we didn’t like each other.
And as we see some of the days leading up to 9/11, the discord that we’d had decades before then, many times we didn’t like each other. But by gosh, somebody attacks us from the outside, that’s when we show how we love each other. That moment in time was how we banded together. Someone from the outside tried to infiltrate our family. Regardless of the arguments that we had before then, we all came together, held hands, said then and say now, never again. We will be there for each other.
As we look at the plaques up here, the posters up here to never forget, I want to challenge us to go forward and remember the love that we felt for each other during those days after 9/11. Today, twenty years later we are back at a place where we’re fighting amongst ourselves. We’re like two teenage boys in the front yard going at each other. I want to challenge us to get back to a day in time where although we have our differences, we can and must come together in the end. Our enemies like attacked us twenty years ago, love to sow that division. They’d love to see that division that’s out there. They want to see us fighting amongst themselves so we don’t seem to be unified against folks who want to harm us. I want you, us, in Greeneville, Greene County, Tennessee, the United States to put our armor back on, to unify, and to say, not on my watch. No one will ever harm us again the way we will harm them.
Thank you for the opportunity to the mayor, the invitation to be here. Thank you for all the crowd that has attended. Love each other. And just as importantly, let’s like each other.
Thank you so much”.
Greeneville Mayor Cal Doty and Greene County Mayor Kevin Morrison also shared the reading of a proclamation related to this day in history as Patriot Day locally.
9 11 Anniversary Joint Proclamation September- 25th Anniversary
