Oceanside remembers Sept. 11

Over 100 Oceanside residents gathered at the Schoolhouse Green on gray afternoon last Sunday to pay tribute to those who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.

The annual event was led by the Oceanside Interfaith Council, a group of Oceanside’s spiritual leaders.

“It’s hard to believe it’s been nine years since that terrible, terrible morning,” said Rabbi Mark Greenspan to the assembled crowd.

The ceremony was short, but included performances of patriotic songs by Oceanside School 9E choir, as well as Oceanside High School vocalist Kira Metcalf-Oshinsky performing the National Anthem. The OHS marching band also performed.

Each of the religious leaders led the assembled crowd in prayers of peace and remembrance. Every year, the names of those who died on Sept. 11 are submitted by community members and read in remembrance. This year, only two names were read: Jason David Cayne and Robert L. Cruikshank.

“In a time filled with tragedy,” said Rabbi Uri Goren, leading everyone in a prayer, “we dare to hope for an era yet to come in which the slaughter of innocents, greed, the ambitions of power and cultural, racial and religious bigotries are but memories of a dim and unenlightened past.”

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