A few hours before heading over to cover Ocean City’s 9-11 ceremonies last week, I was driving behind an SUV with a couple of political bumper stickers. On any other day the stickers would have merited little more than a raised eyebrow.
Whenever Sept. 11 rolls around, the day isn’t quite the same.
We are bombarded by horrific images on the news and in our memories of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in Manhattan and the Pentagon, and of the plane that brave passengers helped force down in a field in Shanksville, Pa., before it could be used as a weapon of mass destruction.
Millions of people were profoundly affected even if the closest most of us got to the first responders and civilians who were murdered was our television sets that fateful morning.
As part of my job I cover 9-11 ceremonies. I have done it for years, just as I cover Memorial Day ceremonies. Both are assignments I go to because they are important and I go because I want to be there.
There is a shared sense of community as Americans gather together to remember something we should never forget, be it our war dead or the brave police officers, firefighters and emergency workers who gave up their lives trying to save others.
It is comforting feeling part of that community, a community of Americans joined by a common cause.
That is why that pair of bumper stickers struck a discordant note.
One sticker showed a dog squatting to take a dump on the word “Biden.” That is about as lowbrow as political discourse goes, but part of the American political temperament right now.
Americans have always loved to show our opinions on T-shirts and bumper stickers and, in the age of Trump, flags flying on houses and the back of pickups. We used to focus on whom we support, not whom we want to denigrate.
That kind of sticker wasn’t worth more than a shrug. I believe in the freedom of expression. We Americans value that even if we don’t particularly love the way others express it.
The other sticker on the SUV did bother me because the memories of Sept. 11, 2001, were swirling around my mind.
The sticker was a noxious play on the United States Uniformed Services Oath of Office for members of the military and part of the Oath of Allegiance that immigrants take to become U.S. citizens. The oaths are to solemnly swear to support and defend the Constitution “against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
This sticker read: “Against all enemies, foreign and democrat.”
I don’t know if the driver thought it was funny or how seriously he took it. Maybe it was a way to “trigger the libs” or an expression of rage. Who knows? He drove one way and I drove another.
It did make me think two things, one ironic and the other sad.
The irony is that it wasn’t a riot of democrats who tried to overturn a presidential election by storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to stop the peaceful transfer of power. That is not something people who pledge to support and defend the Constitution — you know, actual patriots — are supposed to do.
The sad part is that it is another sign of the chasm-deep divisions in this country. People’s political affiliations become their identities. We’re not satisfied wearing our opinions on our sleeves for all to see, but want them on a pair of metaphorical Doc Martens to stomp opposing opinions into the dirt.
A few hours after seeing the stickers, I was at the 9-11 ceremony in Ocean City.
I saw people quietly watch Boy Scout Troop 32 present the colors as Miss Ocean City Taylor Mulford sang the national anthem, a massive American flag hanging from a ladder truck, in front of which stood a host of police officers and firefighters.
I listened to Mayor Jay Gillian talk about the community spirit that arose after Sept. 11, 2001.
I heard Police Chief Bill Campbell and Fire Chief Bernie Walker speak about their reactions to the attacks and how their departments stand ready to risk everything to protect us.
I felt the anguish as retired firefighter Brian Green talked about his experience working with two others from the Ocean City Fire Department at Ground Zero, helping in the aftermath of the terror attack.
I watched as people bowed their heads at the same time as the Rev. John Jamieson, the OCFD chaplain, delivered the invocation and benediction.
At the end of the ceremony, when Mulford asked everyone to join her in singing “God Bless America,” the voices all came together.
For a while on Asbury Avenue in front of the fire department headquarters Wednesday evening, there was unity.
I wish that spirit would last.
David Nahan is editor and publisher of the Ocean City Sentinel, Upper Township Sentinel, The Sentinel of Somers Point, Linwood and Northfield and the Cape May Star and Wave.