Special guests join the university community to remember Sept. 11 with ceremonies at the Heroes’ Garden.
JAIMIE FRANKLIN
Staff Writer
The Pepperdine community took time Monday to remember the events of Sept. 11 with guest speaker Deena Burnett, the widow of Pepperdine alumnus and Flight 93 passenger Thomas Burnett.
The day began as students gathered in Stauffer Chapel for a prayer service led by President Andrew K. Benton. This service is held every Monday but because it fell on the actual fifth anniversary this year, chaplain D’Esta Love and Andrew K. Benton said it was opportunity to do something special.
Benton asked that attendees call out their prayers, and they soon began to do so. Rotating around the chapel, voices could be heard praying for peace and the comfort of Sept. 11 victims.
This was followed by a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., five years and three hours after the time the first plane struck the first World Trade Center tower.
Prayer journals were left in Stauffer Chapel and at Heroes Garden for guests to write prayer requests, comments and names of loved ones to be remembered.
“[The journals] provide an opportunity for us to remember this day as a community but also they serve as an opportunity for private remembrance,” Love said.
At 10:30 a.m., students and guests gathered at Heroes Garden on Drescher Graduate campus for a formal memorial ceremony featuring brief speeches by Burnett, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Benton and others. The speakers were followed by a musical interlude of “Won by One” by Pepperdine’s acapella group.
Pepperdine Public Safety officers and firemen attended the ceremony in uniform as a way to commemorate the rescue workers who lost their lives saving others.
SGA President Kevin Mills also spoke at Heroes Garden on the tragedy of the day as well as the hope for the future. “Pepperdine did a good job of making [the ceremony] a somber, classy event for the occasion,” Mills said.
Tom participated in the revolt on Flight 93, diverting it from the hijackers’ intended destination. His wife, Deena Burnett, spoke on the inspiration she found in her children after her husband’s death and the obligations we all have to do the right thing.
“Tom’s last words to me were ‘we’re going to do something,’” Deena said in her speech. “Purpose and joy come from living life beyond ourselves and using our ability to do something.”
While Deena talked about the lessons that could be learned from the event, she also addressed her feelings on the day of the attacks.
Deena shared in an interview what was going through her head five years ago as she spoke with her husband on the phone aboard Flight 93.
“I was afraid but feeding off his calmness. I had incredible confidence in his abilities,” Deena said. “It never occurred to me that he could die.”
She recently released a book on her experiences called “Fighting Back: Living Life Beyond Ourselves.” She wrote it as a chronicle of her husband’s life for her three daughters so that they can one day understand what he did and why.
“[Fighting Back] lets readers know that if you trust in God you can do anything,” Deena said.
A book signing was held outside of Payson Library for Deena.
Later that evening a special 90-minute Convo was held in Stauffer Chapel for the presentation of Benjamin Britten’s timeless “War Requiem,” a musical service which incorporates prayer and Britten’s original compositions, questioning war and violence.
“What strikes me is that traditional prayer is juxtaposed with poems from World War I, allowing us to see the horror of war and question it in radical ways,” said Paul Contino, a professor of great books.
Sept. 11th was a day that changed the views of Americans and effected the course of the nation’s policies internationally, as well as the climate of politics at home.
“It was our galvanizing moment as a nation,” Benton said. “I had just begun my second year as President and at that moment I realized that college presidents have pastoral responsibilities.”
When faced with adversity, Deena urges us to “think about what you have left instead of being consumed by what you have lost. Consider the possibilities of what you can do with what you have left.”
09-14-2006