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NEW YORK CITY -- We saw a powerful portrait of a city and of a nation today, as people of every age, every ethnicity and every station in life stood together and read the names of the nearly 3,000 people who died 10 years ago. Each reader had a family connection.
There were 2,983 names --people who died at the hands of terrorists.
This recitation by a tapestry of American faces has played out nine times before, poignant its simplicity. But today's commemoration, carried out under extreme security, was anchored in hope and healing.
"Although we can never 'unsee' what happened here, we can also see that children who lost their parents have grown into young adults, grandchildren have been born, and good works and public service have taken root to honor those we loved and lost," said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Much of the remembering was done in moments of silence at minutes marking the tragedies of that day.
Although we can never 'unsee' what happened here, we can also see that children who lost their parents have grown into young adults, grandchildren have been born, and good works and public service have taken root to honor those we loved and lost.
–- Michael Bloomberg.
President Obama --quoting Psalms-- invoked the presence of God as an inspiration to endure.
"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea," he said.
Former President George W. Bush, whose presidency was defined by 9/11, quoted a letter from Abraham Lincoln to a mother who lost five sons in the Civil War.
"I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement," Bush said.
As the gates of the national 9/11 memorial opened to the victims' families, a steady stream of them began searching for the names of their lost loved ones. Some left mementos. Others made paper rubbings of the names --or simply wept-- as the sound of the roaring waterfalls in each commemorative fountain washed over them.
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