OPINION: Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams remembers 9/11
On the 13th anniversary of 9/11, the National September 11 Memorial and Museum will host its annual commemorative ceremony at the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan, and many Brooklynites will join the event in person, with even more watching on television or taking part in remembrances across our borough. But you might be surprised, as I am each passing year, how the ceremony itself—and our collective memory of that tragic day—seem to fade in importance as we go about our fast-paced and busy lives. It’s been 13 years since we were stopped in our tracks, and the momentum of life itself seems to make many of us think that the chance of anything happening again is remote.
I was a captain in the NYPD on that fateful day thirteen years ago, and—as it turned out for so many men and women in uniform like me—a first responder. If you got the call, or heard the sirens, or saw the smoke, and ran toward the chaos, the memory doesn’t fade. If you knew someone who gave his or her life trying to save other lives, then you can’t help but wonder why the events commemorating 9/11 grow sparser, our commitment to responders seems less heartfelt and our conversations about preparedness seem too few and far between.
On this 9/11 anniversary, let’s begin by ensuring the extension of the Zadroga Act so that our fearless first responders get the healthcare and treatment they both need and deserve. Providing life-saving care to those whose only thoughts were to help others is the right thing to do; it’s the only thing to do.