Try To Remember The Kind of September

As my barber cut my hair, I heard him humming Harry Belafonte’s song, “Try To Remember”. I am reminded of its lyrics which I partly quote,

“Try to remember the kind of September

when life was slow and oh, so mellow.

Try to remember the kind of September

        when grass was green and grain was yellow.

Try to remember when life was so tender

that no one wept except the willow.

Try to remember when life was so tender that

dreams were kept beside your pillow.”

I asked him, “What is in the month of September that you could deeply remember?”

He quickly answered, “On September 21, 1972, Martial Law was declared in the Philippines. It was also the day I decided to leave the Philippines and go to a place where the “grass is greener and where freedom and justice reign. When the opportunity to come to the U.S. instead of joining the rebels in the mountains came, I grabbed it. What about you?”

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September is a meaningful, significant and a very emotional month for Filipinos, Americans and at least 75 other nationalities worldwide. The 911 Commission Report has this to say:

“At 8:46 on the morning of September 11, 2001, the United States became a nation transformed.

An airliner traveling at hundreds of miles per hour and carrying some 10,000 gallons of jet fuel plowed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. At 9:03, a second airliner hit the South Tower. Fire and smoke billowed upward. Steel, glass, ash, and bodies fell below. The Twin Towers, where up to 50,000 people worked each day, both collapsed less than 90 minutes later.

At 9:37 that same morning, a third airliner slammed into the western face of the Pentagon. At 10:03, a fourth airliner crashed in a field in southern Pennsylvania. It had been aimed at the United States Capitol or the White House, and was forced down by heroic passengers armed with the knowledge that America was under attack.

More than 2,600 people died at the World Trade Center; 125 died at the Pentagon; 256 died on the four planes. The death toll surpassed that at Pearl Harbor in December 1941.”

A careful reading of the list of the 77 countries whose citizens died as a result of the attacks on September 11, 2001 shows that several religions were affected and represented. While majority of the American and Filipino victims were Christians (Protestants and Catholics), about 300 were Muslims, some were Jewish, Hindi, Buddhists, and probably other unknown sects. The Al Qaeda attackers showed more interest in the economic and political impact which the attacks symbolized. Any religious impact was not a goal they sought to achieve.

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September is also a month of other historical events. On September 3, 1783, the American Revolution officially came to an end when the United States, Great Britain, Spain and France signed the Treaty of Paris. On September 4, 1886, Geronimo surrendered while on September 5, 1972 Israeli athletes were killed at the Munich Olympics. On September 7, 1813, United States was nicknamed Uncle Sam and on September 8, 1974, President Ford pardoned former President Richard Nixon.

If you are a feminist, this event on September 20, 1973, should be of interest to you. “In a highly publicized "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match, top women's player Billie Jean King, 29, whipped Bobby Riggs, 55, a former No. 1 ranked men's player. Riggs, a self-proclaimed male chauvinist, had boasted that women were inferior, that they couldn't handle the pressure of the game and that even at his age he could beat any female player.”

On September 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which ended slavery in the United States while on September 24, 1789, the Judiciary Act establishing the Supreme Court of the United States was passed by Congress and signed by President George Washington,

If you were a fan of actor James Dean or have seen any of his movies, you probably know that he died on September 30, 1955.

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September also marked the celebration of the birthdays of many of our friends and relatives:

Josephine Maynigo – September 4^th sharing the day with automaker Henry Ford II and actress Mitzi Gaynor;

Francis Xavier Manglapus – September 5^th sharing it with former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Vocker and comedian Bob Newhart;

Anita Celdran and Vivian Maynigo whose birthday is September 6^th and both sharing their birthday with former Prime Minister of Portugal Jose Socrates, and actress Rosie Perez;

Jane Tan Manglapus and Stanley Maynigo who were born on September 9^th and their  birthday coincides with that of former Philippine President Sergio Osmena, Sr., Princess Anna Sophie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, and actor Cliff Robertson;

Raffy Maynigo – September 10^th, the same as that of Bill O’Reilly, American TV commentator;

Emily Razzano – September 11^th, same as  Dutch actress Nelly Knoop

Homer Rabara and Nomer Maynigo – September 14^th coinciding with the birthday of American actor Jesse James and Byzantine Emperor Alexios II Komnenos;

Bea Maynigo and Ken Ettinger – September 16^th – same as that of former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and King Louis XIV of France;

VayNne Decena and Carmela Maynigo – September 18^th – same as that of Queen Anne of Romania, NCAA Basketball Coach Rick Pitino and actor/director Rossano Brazzi;

Paula Veron Manzon Maynigo and Michael Rabara– September 21^st – same as that of the Emperors of China Hongwu and Jingtai and German Emperor Frederick III, Innsbruck Austria;

Bing Branigin – September 26^th – sharing it with Saint Francis of Assisi, Pope Paul VI, and Winnie Mandela;

Eric Lachica, Christian Maynigo and Charito Nanagas – September 27^th, same as that King Louis XIII of France, actor Patrick O’Neal, actress Gwyneth Paltrow and Phoenix Suns President Steve Kerr;


Pres Ordinario and Mila Maynigo Denton Goldberg – September 29^th, same as Pompey the Great, Don Quixote author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, US Senator Bill Nelson, and NBA Star Kevin Durant.

Amidst all the historical significance, the tragedy, the joy, deliverance and hopes that our kind of September brings, for several decades now, I personally, not just try but make sure that I always remember this month. This is because the most important birthday to me is celebrated at this time. It  is that of my wife, Tina who brought me blessings and made me the luckiest human being on earth. Since she deleted the info in her Facebook profile, it means she does not want our friends to be reminded about her upcoming new age. This is despite the fact that she does not look her age. So I shall oblige!

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As I ended my conversation with my barber, he reminded me that for us who live not too far from the Chesapeake Bay, the season of good crabbing which is the beginning of the “ber” months has just begun. “Try to remember that the best kinds of crabs are in September,” he concluded.

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