We Will Never Forget
Kumu Gupta
We will never forget 9/11, the brave souls who perished, those they left behind and the first responders who ran into danger and not away from it.
Living in MA, we were especially impacted as many people from this area worked at the World Trade Center, and both the United and the American Airlines flights that rammed into the WTC took off from Boston Logan Airport. But even in the face of such 'catastrophic hell', as I was taken aback I also found strength in these 2 'heroes' I met after 9/11. Susan Retik, a Needham MA native who lost her husband in one of the World Trade Center Towers. Instead of succumbing to her grief, she decided to help other widows in Afghanistan by providing each one with one hen, so they could sell their eggs and make money to survive. Being profoundly touched by her courage and compassion, I nominated Susan for the Presidential Citizens Medal and am honored to say that President Obama awarded Susan the medal at the White House in 2010.
I was again struck by the human compassion and resilience of Paul Veneto recently, when I saw and heard of him pushing a service cart to Shanksville, PA to keep the memory of those who perished in the hijacked United Airways flight alive. Paul is a retired United Flight Attendant who just finished his shift before that flight took off from Boston Logan Airport. So every 9/11, Paul physically pushes a flight service cart by road to the 9/11 sites as a way of doing his part in remembering this unconceivable tragedy. As a certifying organization for the President's Volunteer Service Award, I awarded Paul a Gold President's Volunteer Service Award Medal for his patriotism and perseverance in August, just before he took off on his journey pushing his cart from MA to Ground Zero and arrived on 9/11. The Award came with a certificate and letter from the White House signed by President Biden.
And finally a while ago, I met Joseph Pereira, a fellow resident of Quincy, MA who reported on 9/11 live as he saw the Towers come down in front of his eyes for the Wall Street Journal and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his piece.
I feel so blessed to have met these wonderfully amazing people that give me hope and strength to live with my memories of 9/11.
Similarly, having lived in Silicon Valley, CA for many years before moving to MA, as a female and Indian American I feel hope in knowing VP Harris will also never allow us to forget what we as a nation have endured.It will be a proud, historic moment to have Vice President Kamala Devi Harris be the first-ever female President of the United States.
Kumu Gupta served as a member of the President's Challenge Program of the President's Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition under President Obama, is a recipient of the Council's Community Leadership Award as well as President's Volunteer Service Lifetime Achievement Award, and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023 for over 2 decades of humanitarian work in women's and children's rights and global peace via her new initiative Global Peace Secretariat. Kumu writes to spotlight social justice issues as Brand Ambassador for the Times of India newspaper and is a contributor to local and national newspapers. Kumu's work has been an entry for the Pulitzer Prize, National Press Club Journalism Award and SAJA (South Asian Journalists Association) Journalism Award.
