First responders remember those lost in 9/11 — and the country's unity after the tragedy

Twenty-two years to the day after one of America's greatest tragedies, a giant bell tolled Monday down the fairway at Edinburgh USA golf course in Brooklyn Park.

The bell was to remember the first responders who died during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But instead of focusing on that day's horror, speakers at the Sept. 11 remembrance focused on the unity that came in the aftermath.

The crowd had come for a golf fundraiser for the Front Line Foundation, a Minnesota nonprofit that supports the families of first responders who have died in the line of duty and also aids first responders by purchasing safety and tactical equipment.

Before the golf tournament teed off, they honored first responders who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks: 343 New York firefighters and paramedics, 23 police officers, 37 Port Authority officers.

But instead of simply remembering the events of Sept. 11, 2001, law enforcement officers at the Monday afternoon remembrance also spoke of Sept. 12, 2001, the beginning of a time when America felt as unified as it had in generations.

That was the lesson conveyed: Despite political and social divisions that plague 2023 America, we can still aspire to be the America of Sept. 12, 2001.

"The atmosphere after 9/11, people were so nice to each other everywhere you went," said St. Paul police Senior Cmdr. Tim Flynn. "It's an unfortunate event we wish would never have happened. But it put into perspective what's really important in the world and what's not important. We put aside our differences, and everyone got along."

Twenty miles south of the golf course, another group came together for a different type of Sept. 11 remembrance with similar lessons.

About 15 Harley riders left Wild Prairie Harley-Davidson in Eden Prairie on Monday morning on a 300-mile roundtrip memorial ride to Soldiers Walk Memorial Park in Arcadia, Wis.

"Sept. 12, you look what happened the next day, there wasn't a plane in the sky," said David Greer, assistant sales manager at the Eden Prairie Harley dealership. "It was quiet. It was eerie. And it brought a lot people together, because somebody had attacked America."

The idea of a tragedy that unifies can seem quaint in a social-media age where any tragedy seems to fuel divides: The coronavirus pandemic, mass shootings, George Floyd's murder and the subsequent protests and riots, challenges to American democracy.

"But that's one of the things 9/11 did: It brought us together," Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt said at the Brooklyn Park event. "We can't let that work get undone."

Ryan Sheak, a 39-year-old White Bear Lake police detective, spoke about his recent brush with tragedy that stripped life to its essentials.

On the evening of Jan. 24, Sheak, a married father of three, was attempting to arrest a man on felony domestic violence charges when the suspect fired three shots into Sheak's midsection. "This really could be it," Sheak thought as he lay on the ground that night.

He survived. He was grateful for places like the Front Line Foundation, an organization where he served as a board member before becoming a recipient of its support. He was astounded at the community's outpouring of help for his family. He returned to White Bear Lake's police department a month ago. He's still processing the meaning of that night.

He knows his tragedy was nowhere near the magnitude of Sept. 11. But the meaning of the weeks and months after his tragedy — unquestioned support from all corners — is clear, and analogous to the weeks and months after Sept. 11, he said.

"Everybody genuinely cared, genuinely wanted to help out, wanted to rally behind my family and I," he said. "No matter what noise is going on around us, anything political, no matter what the narrative is going on or the talking points, that just stops. Everything just gets set aside. It's like, we're all human — how can we rally for each other and support each other? That was a beautiful thing to see."