It has been 4,207,680 minutes since 9:59am on September 11, 2001.  It was on that clear, crisp, perfectly blue skied Tuesday September morning where blood from all nations was spilled on American soil for the first time in 60 years, since the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.  My city, our nation, and everyone’s world was irrevocably changed.

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
-Thomas Jefferson

For me, the heralds of that change was the sound through the dust cloud that had consumed me of American fighter jets above the city skies.  To others that change was evident by what they saw on television, or maybe the longer security checkpoints at airports, or perhaps it was the so called political scare tactics they were subjected to attempting to justify the limiting of civil liberties, or even hugging their loved ones goodbye to fight the proverbial “war on terror” that has resulted in the spilling of more blood than I think anyone had ever expected.

That’s not what today is about.  Today is not about remembering the evil that a person is capable of, the inconvenience of air travel, politicians we elected not preserving or rights and freedoms, or the debates about right and wrong in the quest for security of the homeland.  You have 364 other days for all that.

Today is about remembering the conscious sacrifice made by one for another in their greatest time of need.  Today is about remembering that while all sacrificed some… there are those who sacrificed all.  I ask that you remember this today and leave everything else for another time.

It has been 4,207,680 minutes since the South Tower of the World Trade Center at Liberty Street and West Street collapsed. I ask that you specifically remember the following nine Emergency Medical Service Responders who perished in that collapse: