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.

And justice for all

AUBURN, Maine - Killing Osama bin Laden wasn't the only objective of putting 25 courageous U.S. Navy SEALs in harm's way during an incursion at a fortified home in Abottobad on Monday.


It was justice, and it finally caught up with this murderer who had been on the run for a decade.


Reveling in his death is almost pointless. I  am relieved and delighted that justice was carried out swiftly and judiciously and those 25 brave souls came home without a scratch.


His death is certainly not the end to Al-Qaeda's violence. Unfortunately, there are other fanatics on deck, waiting for the opportunity to commit endless acts of terrorism.


Although justice was delivered by bullets, this raid was necessary to terminate one man who waged an endless campaign of terrorism and murdered thousands of law-abiding, devout Muslims.


I do understand that bin Laden's violent end will not bring Peter Goodrich, a Bates College All-American who was murdered on 911, back from eternity, and nor will it be a comfort to Sally Goodrich, who passed away last December after a long battle with cancer.


The Goodrichs are decent human beings who do not believe in the eye-for-an-eye thing. I am sure bin Laden's death brings no closure to the Goodrich family.


I am grateful to the Navy SEALs' extraordinary 40-minute battle to take down bin Laden despite the enormous risk of losing their own lives. These servicemen were not only in danger of being killed but they had to scurry back across the boarder to avoid the Pakistani air force.


This risky operation was also a difficult call for President Obama, who could have easily ordered an a B-2 air strike and obliterate the compound. But he understood it might be impossible to identify bin Laden's body with all the collateral damage done by the bombing.


Anyway, nice call, Mr. President, and for having the temerity to give the order to shoot to kill.


The last thing this nation, which has endured several wars and a sour economy, needed was giving Osama his day in court. Allowing Osama a court date would be like having Hitler testify at Nuremberg and listen to his ranting and ravings.


A trial would have allowed this despot to spew his hatred and enrage the American public. It would have cost this country millions to try this killer and then make him a martyr when we executed him.


I believe Americans would have little patience for bin Laden's presence on American shores.


And burying bin Laden at sea was also the right move after no country wanted his corpse. I can see why such nations as Saudi Arabia didn't want to be responsible for his burial. I'll bet his body would have incited unrest no matter where bin Laden was laid to rest.


Again, congratulations to President Obama and the Navy SEALs for a job well done.

A woman of courage and peace

Sally Goodrich and I suddenly became linked together by the tragic death of an extraordinary and kind human being - her son, Peter Goodrich.

We only spoke twice about Peter, who was killed on the second plane that slammed into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. But those two brief conversations over the phone told me all I needed to know about a remarkable and dedicated mother who had the courage and tenacity to go on living despite the shattering loss of her beloved son.

To this day, I don't know how Sally Goodrich found a reason to get out of bed each morning. Just after Peter's death, Sally was diagnosed with cancer, and now she was forced to fight off a life-threatening disease while coping with her overwhelming grief.

Some of us might have called it quits, close all the shades, shut out the living and allow grief and depression to consume us.

But despite her endless sorrow and nagging sickness, Sally found an outlet to remember and honor her cherished son. She and her husband, Donald, founded the Peter Goodrich Foundation, which raises money to build and fund schools in Afghanistan. 

Two weeks after Peter died on that warm Tuesday afternoon, a friend of mine, who works for Stars and Stripes, informed me that Peter was a passenger on the second plane that struck the towers.

At first, Peter's name didn't ring a bell. I was still numb after the terrorist attacks. As a sportswriter and editor for the Lewiston Sun Journal, I kept a filing cabinet with some of the stories I had written over the years. At the top the stack of papers were several articles I had done about the Bates College All-American track star.

I called Donald and spoke with him just two weeks after those heinous events in New York City. It was one of the most difficult interviews I had ever done as a reporter. I knew life would never be the same for the Goodriches or the nation.

I remember Peter as a kind and modest athlete who was setting records in the hammer throw at Bates College. When you spoke with Peter, you knew right away that he was raised by caring and educated parents who put their children first. He was tribute to Sally's and Donald's love and devotion to their children.

Several years later, I got a call from Sally at the Sun Journal. She politely asked if she could reprint the articles I wrote about Peter on the foundation's Web site. I spoke with my editor and Sally was given the OK to place my stories on the site.

We spoke for a few minutes when she told me "that out of all the stuff that has been written about Peter, I read your articles every day because of the quotes you used in the story."

I was silent for a few seconds. You never know if the stuff you write ever touches anyone's soul. And now those words I wrote long ago continued to comfort a mother who suffered the most devastating loss of all - the death of a child.

I thanked this courageous woman for her kind compliments. We would speak once more when her son was posthumously inducted into the Auburn-Lewiston Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.

It would be the last time we talked about Peter.

Sally Goodrich, who wouldn't allow her grief to rule her and courageously plunged right back into to life to make a difference in the world, died at her home in Vermont on Dec. 18, 2010. She was 65.

Thank you Sally for being fearless and an inspiration to all of us in a world that could benefit from more compassionate individuals like you.

Rest in peace.