Remarks by Consul General Lee McClenny at the 9/11 Commemorative Service at St. James United Church

I should begin by thanking St James United Church and Rev Bonnar for once again making this beautiful, peaceful and reverent place of sanctuary and reflection available to all of us on this date…your generosity on Sept 11, 2001 -- and every year since then – speaks more loudly and more eloquently than my own words of thanks can fully convey.

Rev Bonnar asked me to reflect briefly on my personal memories of Sept 11, and to provide a bit of an “American” perspective to this anniversary. I’m pleased to try to fill that bill.

We can, I am sure, all recall with brilliant clarity where we were and what we were doing, thinking and feeling on that day, eight years ago. I was in my office, at work, across the Atlantic in London when the first shaky video images came in. At first, it was hard to be sure what we were seeing…a skyscraper fire? …an aviation accident? …some sort of attack? Disbelief was powerful…but gradually, as more reports came in, the dreadful realization of what was actually happening began to take hold.

Like so many of you, I was shocked, appalled, outraged, angry…and I was frightened. We believed, at the time, that London was also a target…indeed, time proved everyone right as there were subsequent attacks there, and in Madrid and elsewhere. The strongest emotions that animated many people that day, and many of the following days, were fear, anger and in some a desire for some form of vengeance. What role those emotions played in shaping perceptions, decisions and actions subsequently I will leave to historians…this sanctuary on this day is certainly not the place for such a discussion, nor do I think enough time has passed for us to judge events as dispassionately as we should.

Yet, knowing as I do the highly charged nature of those times, when I reflect on everything we saw that day and afterward, those things that make the strongest and most enduring impressions are not statements or gestures of anger, fear or Man’s baser instincts…in fact what I remember best and most clearly are the acts of kindness, generosity and self-sacrifice that we all witnessed. From emergency personnel racing into burning buildings…to airline passengers working together to thwart the plans of their suicidal hijackers…to scores of Montreal firefighters unhesitatingly volunteering to take the places of the fallen in New York City, with American flags flying on their trucks…to the good people of Gander opening their hearts and homes to stranded strangers…to Canadians putting a looney, twooney or more into a collection plate or bucket…and indeed to the staff of this church throwing open the doors to warmly receive confused and frightened people seeking solace, comfort and some explanation for the apparent madness taking place around them.

How ironic, I suppose, but more importantly how very, very right…how appropriate and how uplifting…that the evil tragedies perpetrated by a handful of men on that day provided the opportunity for the extraordinary good inside so many, many more people to express itself. Indeed, President Obama has made a similar observation and has today proclaimed this date “A National Day of Service and Remembrance”, calling on each of us, yes, to remember the past but also to work toward the future…to focus on serving our fellow Man…encouraging us to “pay forward” the good deeds and service rendered by others.

For me, and I hope for all of you, it’s the case that long after the mental picture of collapsing towers has dimmed…even when the pain we feel for innocent loved ones lost has gradually dulled a bit…STILL we will be touched and we should be touched by the example of noble sacrifices large and small…we shall continue to remember the acts of generosity, kindness and love by many people…among these, of course, are the great people of this great city, and of this great nation whom my fellow Americans are proud and immensely fortunate to call both neighbors and friends.

Thank you.