By Laura Lane
The chatter of children playing at the school and the continual whizzing of cars on a congested Merrick Avenue threatened to upstage the ceremony. But Vincent Gabriele, commander of Merrick's American Legion Post 1282, remained undaunted.
The ceremony began at the war monument. Standing in front of the legion's flags, Gabriele led the assembly in the Pledge of Allegiance. He then spoke heartfelt words to honor the victims who had lost their lives two years ago when, on a similar clear morning, terrorists crashed two planes into the World Trade Center and a third into the Pentagon, killing an estimated 3,000 people -- including 17 Merrick and North Merrick residents at the Twin Towers.
Gabriele ordered the two flags to be lowered to half-staff, and a moment of silence was observed.
People then moved to the Sept. 11 monument. "We want to remember the members of our community and their families," Gabriele said. "Let us resolve to right that terrible wrong."
A local Boy Scout working toward his Eagle badge created the Sept. 11 monument last year. Like so many Americans, he felt a need to do something to honor the victims and those who had died trying to save others.
"A Boy Scout asked permission to place a monument here," Gabriele said. "The boy's name is not on the monument, because he has to remain anonymous in keeping with the Boy Scouts. We moved it over here away from our monument so it could have its own place."
Small potted plants of tiny yellow rose buds surrounded the monument last Thursday. Each flourished alone, brilliant in the afternoon sunlight. To the left, a tomato plant stubbornly grew, its fruit not yet ripe.
The veterans did not know who had offered the flowers or who had planted the tomato vine. They were grateful for them, though, and in the flora, they saw the unity and support that the Merrick community shares.
"What is important about our country is we, as Americans, never forget our loved ones and friends who have died," New York State Sen. Charles Fuschillo Jr. (R-Merrick) said. "This ceremony is another clear indication that the Merrick community will not forget those who perished on 9/11."
That sense of community, however, did not lessen the sorrow felt by attendees.
"When you are at something local, you think of the people who were lost, and I think of the people I knew in Merrick and Bellmore," Nassau County Legislator David Denenberg (D-Merrick) said. "I believe they are heroes, not because of how they died, but how they lived. It takes families to make up a community. Those who died were raising their families and that was heroic."
As people drifted away from the ceremony, the flags waved in the gentle breeze, the yellow rose petals opened slightly, and the green tomato captured a bit of life-giving sunshine. Across the street, children's laughter filled the air.
