DALLAS — On this 19th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, on what is now "Patriot Day" in the United States, service organizations ask that you not only remember but that you also find a way to honor the lives lost with your own gift of service.
Arlington's Veterans Park has become a site to consider and reflect on the lives lost, not only the 2,977 killed in the 2001 terror attacks, but also other servicemen and women and first responders who have given their lives to their country.
The field of more than 1,000 American flags on display, created by the Arlington Veterans Park Foundation, carry the names of some of those souls lost.
"I remember it like it was yesterday," retired Dallas firefighter David Lindsey said.
Lindsey had friends among the 343 firefighters who died when the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center collapsed.
"When you have the largest loss of firefighters in one single day, nobody forgets that," he said.
And a decade later, Lindsey lost his friend Todd Krodle in a Dallas fire.
Today, the Lt. Todd Wesley Krodle Memorial Foundation honors his legacy by awarding annual scholarships to children of Dallas firefighters, providing financial assistance to other Dallas fire department line of duty death families, providing financial assistance to Dallas firefighters injured in the line of duty and assisting with other needs within the department.
"We try to make sure that those families still know that they are part of the fire family," Lindsey said. "That's the main thing. We don't want them to think their loved one's ever going to be forgotten."
That's why the Dallas non-profit "Carry the Load" put every one of the 2,977 names of 9/11 victims on its Facebook page Friday morning: part of a promise to serve the families left behind.
"Together we will make sure these victims of evil are remembered," said Carry the Load board member Todd Boeding.
For much the same reason, veterans gathered on a golf course near DFW Airport Friday morning. The event at Bear Creek Golf Club was a fundraiser for Homeless Veterans Services of Dallas. The organization has successfully lifted veterans out of homelessness by providing them with job training and employment.
"The main thing to me was important is that what these guys were doing to help veterans," former homeless veteran Lucky Lawhorn said. "I don't know where I would be. They saved my life."
So on another painful anniversary, we are often asked to remember and to pledge that we will never forget.
People, like Lindsey, also ask that in their memory you also join in giving veterans, first responders and survivor families a helping hand.
"We want to speak those guys names out loud," Lindsey said. "We want to talk about them."