Today is the 11th Anniversary of September 11th. I hope that you'll take a few moments to think about the 2996 victims, their families, friends, colleagues, and others that their lives have effected. It is through my desire to honor the victims that I found (and lots of other people too) discovered Project 2996. I've been honored to kick off and participate in a special project with Project 2996 in honor of the 11th Anniversary.
Every year I try to do something a little different to honor the memory of September 11th. This year I started a campaign to have all of the victims remembered via a photo and description appearing as a 'pin' in a group board at Pinterest. I've been doing a lot of things with Pinterest in the past few months and I thought that having a group board on Pinterest where others could 'pin' the victims would be a great way visual way for all of us to remember that all 2996 of the victims were people and not just some clincial statistic rattled off in the course of some vaguely related toppic. Below is a screenshot that I captured yesterday and posted in an article at the Project 2996 website that gives you a little taste of what the board looks like, but as the case with pictures, you just can't capture the totality of it. It is definately something that you have to see for yourself. You also need to take the time to scroll through all of the pins.
Project 2996 is largely responsible for over 1700 online tributes to the victims of September 11th. Many of the people that have participated, have blogs and write about a wide variety of topics and have a wide variety of interests and persnalities (much like the victims that we honor). In many cases, if it weren't for Project 2996 we would not hang out in the same circles. I really like being part of something bigger than myself and knowing that all of us together can do so much more together than we could all by ourselves. There is certainly room for more people to join us as there are currently around 1300 victims still needing a 'real' tribute by a 'real' person.
David W Laychak is the first person that I wrote a tribute about, he was my first real dive into Project 2996. I had the pleasure of having and email exchange with his sister and his wife wrote a nice comment after one of the tributes that I wrote for him. Like so many other things in life, the first time we do it is something special. Although I never met David or his family, somehow he is part of my life and not someone I will ever forget. I'm really proud of the tribute that I wrote for David for the 7th Anniversary of September 11th.
Keith Roma was the 2nd person that I found via Project 2996. I decided that I wanted to expand my tributes and thought that I'd like to write about some of the firefighters. Of the 5 people that I wrote about for the 8th Anniversary of September 11th, I spent the most time researching him. I was immediately drawn to him when I saw a picture of him with his daughter. I discovered that there had been some controversy about including him in the list of the FDNY September 11th victims because although he was part of the the New York Fire Patrol, he was not "officially" part of the FDNY.
Christopher Santora was also part of the 5 firefighters that I wrote about for the 8th Anniversary of September 11th. I was drawn to him initially because of his age, at 23 he was one of the youngest firefighters to die. He was a substitute teacher before following in his father's footsteps and becoming a firefighter. “P.S. Q222 - Fire Fighter Christopher A. Santora School” is named after him and was even attended by his nephew.
Joseph P. Henry was also part of the 5 firefighters that I wrote about for the 8th Anniversary of September 11th. I was drawn to him after reading that a woman he had saved had promised to name her first born son after Joseph. He had only been with Ladder 21 eleven months before September 11th. “Firefighter Joseph Patrick Henry Lane” in Brooklyn is named after him. While doing research for Joseph, I discovered a nice tribute that had been done by Jen.
Karl Henri Joseph was also part of the 5 firefighters that I wrote about for the 8th Anniversary of September 11th. He was an EMT. Like so many other Americans, Karl and his family came to America from somewhere else, they came from Hati and although he loved Hati, America was his home. In doing my research fro Karl, I found a nice tribute from Tuxedo Cat Grandma.
Dana Hannon was also part of the 5 firefighters that I wrote about for the 8th Anniversary of September 11th. Dana started out as a volunteer firefighter, making his way to Captain before joining the FDNY. He proposed to his then girlfriend on top of the Sidney Harbor Bridge. While researching Dana, I found that Danielle at Stupid Trivia wrote A TRIBUTE TO DANA HANNON,
I feel that my life had been enriched by getting to know my 6 victims. While there family and friends will never forget them, they have touched my and I can't help but feel that I'm a better person because of it. If you're family, friend of any of these wonderful people, I'd love to hear your memories, please leave a comment below. I hope that you'll take some time to think about the victims of September 11th and that you'll check out the Project 2996 board at Pinterest. Maybe you can join in and help us create a pin for all of the victims. Maybe you write a tribute for one of the nearly 1700 people that we need tributes for.
Darryl
