I want to thank the Santa Barbara Sister Cities Board and the Santa Barbara community for holding this remembrance event today and for allowing me the opportunity to speak.

I appreciate the chance to join friends and neighbors for a peaceful remembrance of that tragic day 6 years ago.

My friends, 9-11 has become a hallowed day of sorts in America, a day of sad remembrance but also a day of resolve.

We remember those Americans that we lost in Pennsylvania and New York.

And we remember those brave civilians and military men and women that we lost at the Pentagon that fateful day.

And we grieve, each in our own way, for the losses that we suffered that awful day.

We can all think back to that day and remember where we were, and remember the shock, the dismay and the anger.

But, being Americans, we also use this remembrance of tragedy as a force for good.

We find within ourselves and our society a resolve, a strength.

We resolved to not blindly let our anger lead us away from the goodness that lies in ourselves.

We resolved to meet the challenge of terrorism that faces us and all free peoples.

And we resolved to make our country and our communities better places, for now and for future generations.

So today we stand together, united in our remembrance of tragedy, but also in our resolve to be good neighbors to one another and to work together to meet our country’s great challenges.

Thank you again for letting me share in this solemn remembrance with you.

Pictured above: (center) Congresswoman Capps meets with Central Coast firefighters to discuss emergency preparedness.