Bright sunshine and late summer breezes blowing through Overpeck County Park in Leonia served as reminders of that fateful Tuesday eleven years ago.  Community leaders joined residents and those who lost loved ones in the September 11th attacks for Bergen County’s annual remembrance. 

A cellist, a bag pipe player and a male a capella group served as the musical backdrop as the names of residents lost were read.  The list now includes fifteen soldiers killed on the battlefield in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Bruce Kane of Englewood says the pain is there and after suggesting he didn’t have the words, thought, “maybe it’s good to talk about it.”  His 40-year-old son, Howard Kane, the comptroller at Windows on the World, was killed on the 107th Floor of the North Tower.  Kane says community gatherings are a collective way of remembering.  They are must-attend events for him and his family.   He said, “The comfort is being with those going through the same thing no matter where we meet.  They provide the camaraderie and give you the solace to endure another year.”  Kane also plans on attending the ceremony at the Empty Sky memorial at Liberty State Park in Jersey City Monday night.

Some in attendance say they were saddened by there being more chairs than people, noting high turn-out last year for the tenth anniversary.  Still, others pointed to three major changes over the past eleven years.  Osama Bin Laden is dead, the Department of Homeland Security was created and those long lines you see at airports.  That’s proof nothing gets overlooked.