On the 20th anniversary of 9/11, residents filled the Daviess County Courthouse lawn after one of the largest Freedom Walks in Owensboro’s history to remember those who lost their lives that day.
Judge-Executive Al Mattingly said it is important that people gather in honor just as they did originally 20 years ago and “never forget.”
“We all came together as one nation,” he said. “With our singleness of purpose to show the world that we can still have differences, but we will act as one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for everyone that lives in our country.”
Mattingly recounted his initial memory of that morning. He said he turned the TV on just in time to see the first responders rush into the buildings to begin their rescue. After the towers had fallen, he said there was a time that the nation sat aside the differences of all to come together.
He related this moment to the current state of the country. He noted the division between the country and charged the crowd to enact that same sense of togetherness to help unify the nation again.
“Our future depends on working together to bring positive change. Sometimes it involves personal sacrifice, it involves inconveniences, and it should involve a certain measure of civility,” Mattingly said.
Mattingly then thanked the first responders and frontline workers for their work in the pandemic for “let’s remember them and honor them just as we do the first responders on 9/11.”
Pam Smith-Wright, organizer of the walk, said she was happy with how the 20th walk went. She said it’s important to remember all those whose lives were lost that day, both the responders and the workers in the towers.
Smith-Wright said she feels the country can do better when it comes to being unified as a nation.
“Like anything, we can always do better,” she said. “I’m not so sure that we are where we need to be as far as the U.S. caring about one another, I know that we shouldn’t let a tragedy define us.”
