Remembering Peter and all the victims of 9-11

My son, Anthony, took this photo of Peter Morgan Goodrich's name at World Trade Center 1 during a trip to New York City last year.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." 

                                                                                                                      — Martin Luther King, Jr.

I got up this morning, had a cup coffee, scanned the newspaper and admired my yard and garden on a muggy summer day.

Peter Goodrich has not enjoyed any of those simple pleasures for the past 15 years.

He was killed on Sept. 11, 2001 — a casualty of terrorism. First responders and citizens enveloped in the rumble's dust are still dying from the attacks.

He was a passenger on the second plane that slammed into the Twin Towers in New York City. 

Like millions of Americans, I witnessed his murder on a clear, warm Tuesday morning on TV. I didn’t wasn’t aware the he was on that doomed United Airlines Flight 175 until a friend, who works for Stars and Stripes in Washington D.C., got in touch with me days later after the attacks.

My son and I were watching “Barney” on PBS when I switched over to watch the news where an NBC news anchor was talking about the first tower to be hit. I saw the second plane plunge into the other structure and burst into flames. I winced when people began jumping to their deaths because they couldn’t find a way down.

I remember nearly every moment of that day: The clear skies, the towers crumbling, the leapers tossing themselves out burning windows, and the silence at a restaurant when I took my 5 year old for lunch. There was an eery silence when I went food shopping that week.

Television broadcasted rescue and recovery efforts from the Twin-Towers’ ruins 24 hours a day for the next four days.

For me, Peter put a face on that horrible morning.

I was introduced to Peter Goodrich at Bates College where he was an All-American for the Bobcat track team. I interviewed him several times as a sportswriter. I wrote a column about him several days after the Towers fell. Two stories were about a memorial that was constructed near Bates’ track and another concerning his induction into the Auburn-Lewiston Sports Hall of Fame.

I spoke with Peter’s father just after the attacks. Donald Goodrich is a man of integrity and didn’t want to see retaliation and more bloodshed despite his son’s death.

I would find it impossible to turn the other cheek if my son was murdered, but Donald Goodrich saw retaliation for Peter’s death as senseless.

His mother, the late Sally Goodrich, established a scholarship in his name. She was an extraordinary woman who adored both sons. She called me and asked for permission to place my stories on her son’s scholarship web page. I told her she would have to establish a link to the Sun Journal.

She told me during the conversation that despite all that has been written about Peter, she still enjoyed re-reading the column I wrote just after 9-11 because of Peter’s quotes that I used from my earlier stories.

When I met the Bates athlete, it didn’t take me long to figure out that Peter, despite his intelligence and impressive athletic abilities, was fine young man whose humility was genuinely endearing.

He had a great sense of humor and a warm smile that could light up a field house. He was a pleasurable young man and I liked that he wasn’t a pretentious, know-it-all college kid.

He was gentlemen who went on to become a products manager. He had a promising future before fanatics murdered all those Americans.

I find it impossible to make sense of such lunacy and treachery, but that’s what separates people with strong moral fiber from killers who use a religion to justify their malevolent actions.

The nation will remember the dead and honor first responders and the military on the 15th anniversary of 9/11 on Sunday.

What have we learned since the Twin Towers crumbled to the ground?

Not much!

We are still killing terrorists who continue to murder citizens across the globe. It is a vicious cycle with no end in sight. It is a war without end as the body count continues to rise.

I know Peter would shake his head in disgust. 

Peter has never left me. 

When the anniversary of 9-11 rolls around each year, I think of him on that day and many other days.