[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 113 (Wednesday, September 13, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1712]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        IN HONOR OF THE FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

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                           HON. JIM MATHESON

                                of utah

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 13, 2001

  Mr. MATHESON. Mr. Speaker, this anniversary is first, last, and 
always, a day of remembrance. The shock and horror of that day has 
diminished. But the sorrow and sadness is still present in our hearts. 
The mountains of debris are gone from the place where the towers of the 
World Trade Center once defined the skyline. But Ground Zero and a 
field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, are burial grounds still, where 
grief is palpable. Two Utahns were aboard one of the hijacked planes 
that struck the first Tower; another Utahn died at his job in the 
Pentagon when a third jet crashed into it. People from many other 
countries also died that morning. In the hours and days following the 
tragedy, it seemed that much of the world mourned.
  The passing days brought much heartache and--ever so gradually--
glimmers of hope. The heroes of 9/11--members of the New York and Port 
Authority police departments, and the New York City Firefighters--
replaced the frightening images of the hijackers. From across this 
country, ordinary people put comfortable lives on hold in order to join 
the rescue and recovery effort. Twenty people were pulled alive from 
the debris. For a time, all Americans put aside their differences and 
united in the desire to make life better for the survivors.
  The families and friends of the victims of 
9/11 will always--in the words of poet ee cummings ``carry your heart 
(I carry it in my heart).'' For the rest of us, a fitting tribute to 
their memory may be to renew our desire to put aside contention and 
partisanship. We honor them when we adopt their ``can-do'' spirit and 
strive--as one nation--to make America the beacon of hope it has always 
been.

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