By Cassidy Lowman ’27, Student Correspondent
Twenty-five years ago, former U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, then Pennsylvania Auditor General, was sitting down for a meeting in Harrisburg when the devastating attacks happened in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001.
The former Senator has spent most of his life dedicated to public service. As the state Auditor General and later U.S. Senator, he saw firsthand how government policies, first responders, overall public safety and governmental trust were influenced by the attacks on the World Trade Center.
Casey reflected on the bravery and sacrifice demonstrated that day.
“As a citizen and as a public official, it gave me a much greater appreciation for those who put their lives at risk to protect the community and protect the nation,” said Casey, The University of Scranton’s Leahy Distinguished Fellow in Public Service. “That kind of heroism and dedication to the lives of others is just incomparable, it’s incalculable, it’s immeasurable.”
Despite being a political figure, he knew just as little as every other American who was glued to their televisions that Tuesday morning. Casey first heard of the attacks while in a meeting. Someone in the meeting received a notification on their BlackBerry, stating a plane had crashed into the North Tower at 8:46 a.m. Casey initially thought it was a terrible mistake, until a second notification alerted that a second plane had hit the South Tower at 9:03 a.m.
Casey remembers driving home to Scranton that evening in fear, needing to be surrounded by family. The grief and anxiety weighed so heavily on the nation that day, Casey said, that it was unlike anything he ever experienced.
“It was violence to the state and violence directed at who we are, our values, our system,” Casey said. “And so, in my life, there was no other day like Sept. 11.”
The Scranton area is home to many who commute to New York City daily for work, and on Sept. 11, 2001, five University of Scranton alumni and 32 loved ones of students and graduates lost their lives. Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., H’04, the Superior for the Scranton Jesuit Community, was president of The University of Scranton at the time and became deeply involved with honoring those who lost their lives, by organizing Masses and attending numerous funerals and memorial services.
“Part of the core mission of Jesuit education is to be a person for others and to act on behalf of others even when it is difficult,” said Casey, who graduated from Jesuit institutions Scranton Preparatory School and the College of the Holy Cross. “Much of the Jesuit philosophy and what is in Jesuit teachings are directly connected to service and sacrificing on behalf of others.”
When asked what University of Scranton students should take away from the 25th anniversary of Sept.11, Casey stated that despite the grief felt nationwide, individuals should let the bravery of those who put their lives at risk propel us forward and challenge us to serve others and live up to the obligations we have to our communities.
“It is important for students to study what happened on 9/11, to remember those lost, to be cognizant of the evil that exists in our world, and to emulate the example of service and sacrifice of so many Americans on that awful day and thereafter,” Casey said.
When Casey’s father, Bob Casey Sr., gave his gubernatorial inauguration speech in 1991, he did so amid another anxious time when U.S. troops were readying for deployment to Iraq.
“We pray for them, but we also pray for ourselves, that we may be worthy of their valor,” Casey Sr. said.
Casey expanded on his father’s message, which has stayed with him for 35-plus years.
“If we’re going to be worthy of all that valor … we’ve got to prove it. You’ve got to prove it every day as a citizen,” Casey said.
Casey said that responsibility includes being a positive force within one’s community and family by voting, treating others with respect and doing good every day.
As the Leahy Distinguished Fellow in Public Service, Casey strives to model the qualities he admired in those who lost their lives 25 years ago. It is the way, he said, one could prove worthy of their valor.
Cassidy Lowman ‘27, Dauphin, is a communications major with a political science minor at Scranton.