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Ceremonies Mark 12th Anniversary Of Sept. 11

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

And I'm Audie Cornish.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: David Scott Agnes(ph).

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Jeremiah Joseph Ahern(ph).

CORNISH: Twelve years later, the remembrances have become familiar. In New York, loved ones read the nearly 3,000 names of those killed in the attacks of 9/11. It was a solemn ceremony in the shadow of One World Trade Center, the nearly complete skyscraper that now stands where the Twin Towers fell.

SIEGEL: Here in Washington, President Obama lead a morning ceremony and a moment of silence on the south lawn of the White House. Later, another moment of silence at the Pentagon.

CORNISH: September 11th is a day of somber reflection, but it's also become a day of service for many. David Paine is co-founder of the 9/11 Day Observance, a movement to encourage volunteers to do at least one good deed on 9/11. That could be working at a food bank or a soup kitchen.

SIEGEL: Or, Paine says, it could be a simple gesture.

DAVID PAINE: You know, a lot of people said today that they're going buy people coffee. I had a cab driver tell me he was gonna not honk his horn today.

SIEGEL: David Paine says how we view the events of that day will change as time passes.

PAINE: People and countries move on. I mean, they have to. You know, they can't dwell on the past, and that was one of the reasons why we thought it was so important to make sure that 9/11 could be remembered in some positive way. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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