The time may pass but the pain is always there. September 11, whose significance drastically changed 13 years ago, is once again upon us. Like many other communities, Garden City had its share of loss amid the thousands who perished that day—23 residents to be exact. The village has done an exemplary job honoring those who were taken on that horrific date. It’s an appropriately solemn scene attended by local officials, residents and members of the fire department as well as friends and families of those we lost. And while this is an event that should never be forgotten, the unity that showed right after it happened is as equally absent as the Twin Towers themselves. Partisanship is what steers the ship that is our country nowadays and while finger-pointing is what passes for action, I can’t help but think of Lincoln’s quote, “A house divided against itself cannot stand,” as being one of the more scarily prophetic items from the past that’s looming over what is our present-day national political scene. Make no mistake that the somber and sad emotions wrapped up in 9/11 have their root in everything that is so appalling with what happened back in 2001. But given the political climate that’s seemed to calcify in every subsequent year, where being right is more important than working together for the country’s benefit, it doesn’t make getting through the day any easier.
—Dave Gil de Rubio
