With Young People Like This, There's Genuine Reason to Hope

In the background of this photo you can see Cornell University's McGraw Tower, flanked by two of the university's libraries. In the foreground is Cornell's central green, known as the Arts Quad, where today under a warm autumn sky I met some bright, beautiful students who were standing quietly, each holding a bundle of American flags and offering passers-by the opportunity to place one of the flags in a design that, when completed, will spell out, "Remember 9/11."

It did my heart good.

Robert Barker/University Photography

The students, who must have been only about 10 to 12 years old in 2001, explained that their 9/11-- Never Forget project is a cooperative effort of the Young America's Foundation and the Cornell University Republicans and (nearby) Ithaca College Republicans, with flag donations from the local chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The project is more than a memorial. It also is a fundraiser in which the students will donate a dollar to the VFW for each flag placed and collect donations from those wishing to give. Last year, the first year of this memorial effort at Cornell, participating students placed 2,977 flags, representing "each person tragically killed in the terrorist attacks." [See video here.] This year they intend to do the same.

Industrial and Labor Relations School student Peter Bouris, class of 2012, recently told the Cornell Chronicle that the memorial is meant to "help everyone remember and reflect on what happened nine years ago."

Bouris said his involvement in the memorial has been "extremely fulfilling. Last night a gust of wind came up and the flags started waving at once. It was like reaching the top of the mountain.'

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