9/11/01 is a day that, for most of us who are old enough, will forever be seared into our minds. Being nine at the time, I didn’t have a real understanding of the events unfolding before my eyes on T.V. I didn’t know about the Two Towers or the Pentagon. I didn’t know what religious extremism was. I didn’t have a concept of death, and the fact that I just witnessed hundreds of people die on CNN didn’t register for me. Many feelings are associated with that awful day. Fear, sorrow, outrage, just to name a few. But out of that despair comes the human will to live. On that infamous day, even with all of the horrors involved, we came together as a country and said “We are great! We are strong! You will not bring us down because we are the American people.”

That was 12 years ago. Much has changed since 2001 and its impossible to keep that same level of enthusiasm up for an event that most people rarely think about. Yet, there are still examples of that patriotism today. For example, if you were by Telegraph Hill around 9/11 in San Francisco you’d notice Coit Tower looking a little different. The day before 9/11 a crew of volunteers, including my dad, went to the tower and lit it in patriotic colors in honor of those who died that tragic day.

Jim Kiley, four year veteran of the Marines and the head of the volunteer crew, explained how the idea to light Coit Tower for 9/11 came to fruition. Before the tenth anniversary of 9/11, he was lighting Coit Tower for the Giants 2010 World Series and realized he could do the same for 9/11 and thought why not? “I can, so I did.” So through a second party, they worked with Martha Cohen, Director of Special Events Office of the Mayor of San Francisco, to get the approval to light the tower. Jim’s worked with I.A.T.S.E Local 16 in San Francisco for the last 14 years. Before that he lived and worked for Local 16 in Boston for 12 years.