Senator Jeff Timberlake On How United We Were After 9-11

Hello, I am Assistant Senate Republican Leader Jeff Timberlake of Senate District 22.

Nineteen years ago, this morning, I was sitting having breakfast while I watched the news and an airplane crashed into the first tower of the World Trade Center.

All of us remember where we were that morning when we first heard the news.

Even though the terror attacks occurred hundreds of miles away from Maine, our state and people have been affected by them and not just in spirit, but directly. Six people with connections to Maine died in attacks in New York and in Washington, D.C.

And we are still losing people as a result. Just last month, a funeral was held in Wiscasset for a former New Jersey firefighter who responded to the attacks at the World Trade Center. The illness he contracted in those efforts forced an early retirement which he chose to spend in Maine.

Immediately following the attacks there was an outpouring of sympathy, caring, and thoughtfulness across our nation. For a time afterward, Americans were unified as never before in my lifetime.

Remembering the very different attitude that prevailed after the worst terror attack in our nation’s history, on this 9-11 Anniversary I am reminded that we do not have to be as divided as we are today, because at one time, it was not.

While we are not currently under attack from a foreign enemy as we were in 2001, the Pandemic is affecting our families, friends, and neighbors in ways that are just terrible.

Rather than understanding that people are struggling, even suffering as a result of the COVID outbreak and looking for ways to ease the tensions of everyday life, across the nation there are protests, riots, even killings that are driven by an ever-widening gap that separates us.

Perhaps we can use this anniversary of 9-11 as a reminder that motivates us to be a little more patient and understanding with one another rather than so quick to judge, to criticize, and to attack others simply because they disagree with us.

Again, I am Assistant Senate Republican Leader Jeff Timberlake of Senate District 22.

Have a wonderful fall weekend and a great Maine Apple Sunday.