Community Corner
Birmingham Reflects on Sept. 11: 'America Is Still America'
"So far, we're winning," says one of 12 Birmingham area voices commenting on a turning point's 10th anniversary.
Memories of Sept. 11, 2001 are widely shared, but also personally distinct. So are reflections on the enduring impact of that life-altering day a decade ago.
Birmingham Patch presents 12 diverse perspectives on what happened that sunny Tuesday morning and the ensuing decade — including comments by a sheriff, an educator, civic leaders, a county commissioner and a woman widowed that indelible morning.
'America is still America'
Chuck Moss
State Representative
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Like most Americans who lived through 9/11/01, I'll never forget it. My wife called me to the TV, reporting about a plane hitting the World Trade Center. I figured it was like the 1945 crash of an Army bomber into the Empire State Building. I was watching as the second plane hit, and then as the towers fell.
The horror of that day, and the fear, confusion and grim national unity that followed is still as fresh in my mind as the assassination of President Kennedy or the fall of the Berlin Wall. That day was the Pearl Harbor of a long, no-quarter war with a ruthless enemy who hates us and wants to see us dead or utterly subjugated to its world vision.
Find out what's happening in Birminghamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The last 10 years have been defined by that struggle's grim reality and preserving the balance of our open and free society. I'll note that this piece is being published in a free press, in a free and open America, in the middle of loud and boisterous political and social debates. Elected leaders still come and go. America is still America. And despite the hole at Ground Zero, New York is still New York. If you disagree, no one's stopping you from saying so.
So far, we're winning.
Chuck Moss, an attorney who lives in Birmingham with his wife Alice, has served in the state House since 2007. He represents his city, Bloomfield Hills, Bingham Farms, Beverly Hills, Franklin, Keego Harbor, Orchard Lake Village and Sylvan Lake. He graduated from Michigan State and the University of Detroit School of Law. Earlier public service was as a county commissioner and city commissioner.
For more accounts of where Birmingham's leaders and residents were on Sept. 11, stay tuned for more in our Birmingham Reflects series or check out what residents already had to say.
