Remembering September 11

Four airplanes were hijacked. Two struck the World Trade Center in New York, one struck the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and one went down in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The 40 passengers and crew of Flight 93 fought back. The attacks killed 2,977 people from 90 nations. In New York today, families read the names aloud.

That day, 441 first responders were killed, the greatest loss of emergency responders on a single day in American history. Many of the people who worked through the rescue and recovery became sick from the toxic air at the site, and thousands have since died of those illnesses.

Here at home, I am grateful for Albany's firefighters, police officers, medics and dispatchers. We ask our first responders to carry the burden of stability in the face of any and all threats to our safety, security and way of life.

Many of us remember that morning. I believe we honor the people we lost by keeping faith with the first responders, with those who worked through the long months of recovery, and with each other. May God comfort every family who still carries that loss.

"Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." Psalm 23:4

Josh Wark
Albany, Oregon, September 11, 2026