As they have for the past 12 years, Friday morning, September 11, Howard and Jeannette Lasher welcomed the public, emergency workers, military personnel, and state and local town officials to a solemn ceremony marking the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America. Held on their Route 302 property marked by six maples painted to represent the American flag, familiar to passersby these past 14 years, the 9/11 memorial service commemorated not only the ten American Stock Exchange friends and colleagues of the Lashers, but all who were lost that day, as well as military troops affected since then.

“Those despicable acts” changed the world as Americans knew it, forever, Mr Lasher reminded the gathered crowd in opening remarks, but the country has responded with resiliency and courage.

“We will continue to stand at this American flag memorial,” he said. “Our great country will continue to thrive.”

Also speaking at the ceremony on Friday were Newtown Selectman Will Rodgers; Newtown Schools Superintendent Joseph Erardi, Jr; artist David Merrill; Reuters Breaking Views editor Rob Cox; Retired US Army Colonel and member of the Wounded Warrior Project Kevin C. McMahon; and Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton.

The Reverend Matthew Crebbin, Newtown Congregational Church, gave the invocation, remembering the generosity, friendship, courage, and commitment of sacrifice made by those recalled, and asking that they may not have died in vain.

So unsure of the gifts bestowed by God, “We wonder if we can do what you call us to do,” prayed Rev Crebbin. “That’s why we come here today: to receive your courage… Help us dream of a world of love and peace.”

The triumph is in moving on, said Mr Rodgers, noting that each generation has its own tragedy to endure.

“Should we remember? Absolutely,” he said; but when people move on with their lives, terrorists do not win.

The mark of a champion is one who can repeat, said Dr Erardi, in thanking Mr Lasher for his continued passion brought to the 9/11 ceremony.

The Newtown community will soon be the recipient of a very special tree, he told the gathering. The seedlings from the only tree at the World Trade Center to survive the 9/11 attack will be distributed to just six communities in the nation, one of which is Newtown. That tree will be planted on the property of the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue Company, near the Sandy Hook Elementary School. The dedication ceremony of that seedling will be “a special moment in our recovery,” said Dr Erardi, and a parallel between Newtown’s recovery and recovery from the tragedy of 9/11.

Remarks from Mr Merrill were brief, describing the painting of the six maples that formed the backdrop for Friday’s ceremony. “It seems like only yesterday that I received a call from Howard [Lasher] to paint a tree,” Mr Merrill said, adding thanks to Mr Lasher for allowing him that honor.

“I applaud Howard’s passion to remembering… souls lost, 14 years ago,” said Mr Cox, adding that he had “vividly chilling memories” of that day, and the days that followed. History teaches that nothing happens in isolation, he reminded those present.

“Fourteen years ago cannot be entirely divorced from where we are today,” he noted, adding that immediately following the attacks of 9/11, the country moved away from some core values, “because we were wounded collectively.” The freedom of privacy that Americans take for granted was compromised.

On a positive note, Mr Cox observed, “It seems to be that we are coming around to the idea that maybe some of what we did was not right,” with some of the Patriot Act rolled back this past June.

It is “Time to make America great again,” one current presidential hopeful has repeated, to which Mr Cox replies, “We never stopped being great,” because of this country’s willingness to evolve by recognizing and learning from its flaws.

Comfort can be found in the ability to move forward, Mr Cox said, in ways that strengthen our core values.

Americans were peacefully going about “what we love to do” on that September day in 2001, when it was attacked, Mayor Boughton stressed.

“This is a war… 9/11 was brought to us… America doesn’t start wars; we finish them, and we will finish this one. We use this day as a memory-connected moment. It has become something each of us can never forget,” he said.

“This is one mayor who will never forget,” he promised. “We are in a total war effort to right the wrong that was done.”

The crowd also heard from Retired Col Kevin McMahon, of Old Lyme, Conn. Col McMahon, a member of Wounded Warrior Project, has traveled the world and had “some incredible adventures” meeting people, he said, prior to the start of the ceremony.

In addressing the crowd, the visibly moved colonel said that his work with Wounded Warrior Project has brought him in contact with troops who have not only visible, but “invisible” injuries. He shared his personal account of one particularly distressful night in Iraq, three years after 9/11.

“There are days that go by that some of those thoughts will never leave my head,” he said. To be present at the 9/11 ceremony “is precious,” Col McMahon said, in closing.

The ceremony came to a close with the reading of the names of Mr Lasher’s colleagues, and the laying of roses to represent each of those lives, plus one to represent all others lost to the acts of terrorism.

“Memory is not passive but active… linking us not just to the past, but to the future,” Rabbi Eric Polokoff said, in closing remarks. “May the blessing of their memory not be forgotten.”

Newtown High School students, under the direction of Jane Matson, as well as WCSU student Amber Cardinal, provided music for the 9/11 ceremony.