Lest We Forget—Heroes Are Not Just on the Track

With the Richmond race in the book, NASCAR's Chase for the Championship has officially begun.  Twelve drivers—our racing heroes—will begin their journey through 10 more races to claim NASCAR's highest prize and the best seat in the house at the Waldorf Astoria later this year.

The 12 “Chasers”, including the likes of Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and Jeff Gordon, and they will be in New York City this week, doing the obligatory talk shows and cameo appearances. They will be on the David Letterman Show and run their Top Ten List (not sure how that will work with 12 drivers, but it should be interesting).

They are our rock stars, our heroes, our racing idols. Yet, it is ironic that they will begin their chase in the very place that seven years ago bred a different kind of hero—the kind of hero that ran into collapsing buildings to try and save others, and the kind of hero that worked tirelessly on the pile to bring the remains of their "brothers and sisters" home.

Some will say that it has been seven years and that we should all really move on.  But for so many of us, particularly those in the New York tri-state area, as well as in Pennsylvania and D.C., the pain is still there and we remember it every anniversary of that fateful September morning.

For me, this was a personal event. My husband lost hundreds of colleagues and saw the second plane hit the tower, witnessing its collapse. He was one of the fortunate ones who was spared.

It was personal for me as a crisis social worker, responding to the many calls from family members, initially just trying to find their loved ones and eventually mourning their most permanent losses. Sixty four of our mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, sons and daughters never came back home to us in our small county in northern New Jersey.

Yet, there were so many heroes that emerged that fateful day. Not just the fire fighters who risked all, but normal, every day people who pitched in to lend a hand.  Neighbors, turned heroes, who cooked, cleaned, held hands and did whatever it took to help a family through this most terrible tragedy. Neighbors—true heroes—that are still caring for children who are now growing up in the shadow of that horrible day.

Other heroes emerged after 9/11, enlisting in the service and marching off to war against the terrorists. Just this week, a group of over 300 soldiers from our community—the truest heroes—have landed in Iraq to serve our country and protect all of us.

Yes, things have returned to normal and all of us have gotten on with our lives.  We're back to watching our racing or whatever other sport we love—and enjoying cheering for our heroes as they dazzle us with their prowess, on and off the track.

But let us always remember who the true heroes are—and let us never forget those who were lost on one crystal clear fall September morn seven years ago on September 11, 2001.

Photo Credit 2001 Thomas Franklin/The Record