The taxi is blowing down FDR Drive, heading south, Ground Zero a mile or so ahead. Jay Winuk is letting a humid breeze blow in through an open window as he considers his dead brother’s legacy and the meaning of 9/11.
For eight years, he and fellow public-relations executive David Paine have worked to make the anniversary of the terrorist attacks a national moment of something other than sorrow, something other than the day, amid thousands of other tragedies, Winuk’s brother Glenn died while trying to rescue people in the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
Now on the cusp of a huge success, with congressional and presidential approval officially recognizing Sept. 11 as a day for people to do a good deed — any good deed — Winuk is adamant about what he doesn’t want this day to become.
“We do not want this to become a federal holiday,” he says in his soft voice. “Holidays tend to become three-day weekends, barbecues, going to the beach and white sales. We never use the word ‘holiday’ for this. It’s not about taking a day off and doing something fun. It’s a day for reflection and for action.”
Exactly the same could and should be said of Memorial Day and Veterans Day — which used to be called “Armistice Day.” Maybe instead of barbacues we should try to do an act of making peace on those days.
Glenn Winuk was a colleague and friend. His office was just a few blocks away from the WTC. He charged right in to help and lost his young life a very short time later. I am very lucky to have known him.