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Has it been enough, every year for the past 23 years, to say, "never forget?"
Or does this occasion require more specific detail about what needs to be remembered -- not only the scope and magnitude of what this day means but the nuances as well?
As we acknowledged in this past weekend, we remember the tragic losses, the pain and grief when terrorists hijacked four airliners for evil purposes. We also acknowledged remembering our nation coming together, to support each other and the sense of national unity that entailed.
Today, we want to remember the bravery and sacrifice of the Flight 93 passengers.
The passengers aboard that flight we not seeking to be heroes when they boarded that plane 23 years ago. It was not the deliberate decision our veterans, firefighters and first responders make to serve their nation and their communities -- a decision for which, of course, we appreciate.
But the decision the passengers of Flight 93 faced -- to fight back against the terrorists, regain enough control of the plane to prevent the targeting of innocent lives on the ground and instead crash in a field in Pennsylvania, surrendering their own lives in a courageous stand against Jihadist terror -- must have been a terrifying choice.
A choice to put their loved ones, their families and their communities and their entire nation ahead of the fear of confronting violent evil. A choice to take the sacrifice forced upon them by this evil and salvage as much good, as much selflessness from it as they could.
It is not enough to remember the sacrifices in some aggregated sense, or to remember the unity of our nation and the compassion for our fellow Americans in the days, weeks and years that followed.
We ask each and every one of us to remember the courage and chivalry of the passengers of Flight 93. We believe we all should remember them as the heroes those moments proved them to be.