By Matthew Miller | SDUN Reporter
Arguably one of the biggest dots of the timeline of our lives, there is little debate that the short numerical phrase “9/11” has become a term signifying flashpoint memories.
Whether waxing politically or pondering the spiritual element of such a catastrophic loss, community members verbalized their wide and varied opinions during the 10-year Anniversary of September 11, 2001 at the “Remembering 9-11-01” concert at Balboa Park’s Organ Pavilion.
Organ Co-Curator Dale Sorenson kicked off the event by announcing to the crowd of hundreds, “Our true memorial to September 11th is how we live our lives today.”
Cortez Hill resident Ross Porter is the Executive Administrator of the Spreckels Organ Society, the non-profit responsible for maintaining the organ in the Pavilion. In addition to discussing the momentous concert that brought community members together, Porter expressed his own view of where this event has delivered us.
“In the immediate aftermath, I hoped we would pull together as a nation,” he said. “I think what we have seen is too much fear and rogue policy. I would like the country to think of the shared grieving not in terms of fear but in terms of hope.”
As a consummate music enthusiast, Porter said he hopes that ultimately we can all find a moment, such as those shared Sunday, that will make a difference.
“I hope it will give people the mental space they need…” Porter said, “through the transformative possibility of music as opposed to words, which can be loaded.”
As Marcela Mendez, lead singer for the local band HoneyRock, launched into the third chorus of her favorite patriotic song, she let the tears flow in memory of loss and in celebrating life.
Mendez explained that while singing the Dixie Chicks’s “Traveling Soldier,” she was thinking of Mary Tillman, wife of ex-NFL football player turned Army Ranger Pat Tillman, who was killed in action in Afghanistan.
“I was just thinking of her and countless other women and how [their loved ones] never come home,” Mendez said.
Mendez had particularly significant feelings Sunday due to special memories of a trip her family made to the Twin Towers when she was nine. “I remember I had my head against the glass from the top floor and looking down, and to think that it is now gone is tough,” she said.
Though singing “Traveling Soldier” often causes strong emotions for Mendez, she explained that Sunday’s performance and the memories associated with it were mixed. “On the one hand all of the loss makes me mad,” she said, “but you just have to keep on living and hope that everything is okay.”
South Park resident Kaitlin Jaime said, “When I really think about it, I guess I feel still pretty shocked by what happened.”
Jaime was 15 years old when 9/11 occurred and recalls the surreal nature of the moment when she first learned of the events of that morning. “I just remember not believing it, thinking that it wasn’t actually happening,” she said.
Robert Plimpton performed at the concert with traditional audience favorites intended to elicit “pathos and heroism,” he said. “This is not a sad concert, this is a celebration of the indestructibility of the human spirit,” Plimpton said.
Plimpton served for over 16 years as San Diego Civic Organist, beginning in 1984, and helped found the Spreckels Organ Society in 1988. As Civic Organist Emeritus, he returned to the Organ Pavilion for this special occasion.
He said Sunday’s procession was not a memorial, but a remembrance. “It is amazing to take music as not a retreat from reality but a retreat to reality,” he said. “Praying in beauty and grandeur always helps celebrate our nature.”
