Members of the Young America’s Foundation will place 2,977 flags at the foot of the Civil War statue on Friday, Sept. 9 in honor of the Americans killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
“It is imperative that every American reflect on the significance of that tragedy and what it means for our country today,” said Zach Bauder, president of the Hillsdale YAF chapter.
All students are welcome to participate in the memorial by placing flags provided by YAF, Bauder said. YAF launched its “9/11: Never Forget Project” in 2003. Since its debut, participating students have placed more than 12 million flags at various high school and college campuses around the nation, according to YAF.org.
“We will make sure of the victims that, as Virgil writes in ‘The Aeneid’ and as is displayed boldly in the National September 11 Memorial Museum in New York City, ‘no day shall erase you from the memory of time,’” Bauder said.
It is essential that the generations born post-9/11 maintain a reverent awareness of the attack that occurred on home soil, according to Associate Dean of Men Jefferey Rogers. In past years, Hillsdale students participated in the city’s “Tunnels to Towers” 5k run, hosted by the American Legion. The run commemorates the firefighters and other first responders who sacrificed their lives in service of their fellow American citizens, Rogers said.
Rogers said although the live coverage of the planes crashing into the World Trade Center is unsettling, it is important not to turn our heads away from these events, “lest we forget, and unfortunately, as history attests, we are prone to forget.” In memory of those whose lives were cut short, we should adopt an “attitude of gratitude” for each day we are given, Rogers said.
In a post-Afghanistan pull-out era, Americans seem to be weighed down by a dark view of America and of themselves, said Peter Jennings, associate professor of management and Brouwer D. and Jane E. McIntyre chair in business administration. Jennings said the way to shake this view is for the country to rediscover itself and the virtues that made America great.
“The idea of patriotism stems from love. Love of home, love of family, love of this country,” Jennings said. “Citizenship isn’t just about individual interests and rights. It’s about duties and obligations that stem from a love for the common good. When that love is a shriveled thing, that sense of duty and honor is also shriveled.”
Jennings said the college’s values are one of the main reasons he chose to work for Hillsdale.
“What we have here is rare, precious, and fragile. It is good. And we are a great country,” Jennings said. “We just need to rediscover that good and recommit ourselves to it. We need to get serious about being good people.”
