Ellie Gavin || Campus Life Editor

This past Friday, F&M honored the 14 anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks with a brief ceremony at F&M’s 9/11 memorial statue. The service, which was held at 9:00 a.m. and run by Reverend Susan Minasian, college chaplain, offered students and faculty the opportunity to come together and pay their respects.

Minasian started her speech by honoring those who have suffered from the Sept. 11 attacks. She reminds the crowd that there are many who walk among us, completely anonymously, who have lost loved ones, and that we must be sensitive to that fact, especially on this day. She tells the audience that even though we must move on, we can never forget.

“Our hearts and minds cannot let go of members of our community that have perished,”
Minasian said.

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Minasian encouraged the audience to stop trying to make sense of the attacks. She spoke about the 2011 film, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. The film tells the story of Oscar, a nine-year-old boy in New York City, who is coping with life after the death of his father in the attacks on the World Trade Center.

Minasian quoted the film, saying, “Oscar’s mother says, ‘Everything doesn’t make sense. There isn’t an answer for everything. I don’t know why people would fly into a building. No matter how much you try, Oscar, it doesn’t make sense.’ And she was right,” Minasian continued. “Terror doesn’t make sense.”

Minasian stressed to the audience that even though we will never forget or move on from this tragedy, we must still allow ourselves to continue to live our lives.

She told the audience to remember that they each have a key in their life, and that it is their duty to use it and to live life to the fullest in honor of those who couldn’t do so.

“We remember those who perished in body, yes, but also those who perished in mind and in spirit,” Minasian said. “They had a key for their lives, and they didn’t have a chance to unlock all the doors of their destiny. That reality might be a wake up call for us to remember that we are not to take our own lives for granted.”

Minasian finished her speech by challenging the audience to take their pain and use it to create a better world, and, in that way, overcome this tragedy.

“We must be committed to resilience… Because when we do that, the terror will be a memory and a part of our story, but it will not be the totality of our story,” Minasian said.

Sophomore Ellie Gavin is the Campus Life Editor. Her email is fgavin@fandm.edu.