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Throughout our lives there are unforgettable events. In our personal and family life, in our professions, there are things which leave a permanent mark on our memory. We recall exactly where we were and what we felt when our children were born, our first day at work or when we received news of the death of a loved one.

In collective life, very few events have this capacity to stir our memory. The 11th of September, 2001 is one of those events. Millions and millions of human beings know exactly where they were and how they felt when they received the news of the barbarous attacks on New York and other places in the United States.

The global power of mass communication undoubtedly contributed greatly towards this sentiment. Watching the attacks against the Twin Towers live on television is something that we will never forget.

I believe, however, that it was not only the vision of that apocalyptic choreography that makes the 11th of September, 2001 stick so much in our memory. We remember that date as if it were part of our personal and family life, because, in fact, we perceived that, on that day, we were also the victims of that criminal act.

Many sentiments came to the surface at that time: fear, anger and incredulity, compassion for those who died, profound admiration for the extreme heroism of those who have the courage to give their lives to save the life of others who they do not know.

Those who went to the rescue of the victims of the 11th of September risked their lives to save the life of others who, for the most part, were not their family or friends, but only people who shared the fact that they all belonged to Humanity.

On that day, when belief in Man’s kindness and reason was called into question by a handful of terrorists, hope in Humanity was salvaged and restored by hundreds and hundreds of heroes.

Some of them, or the families of some of them, are here with us today. As the President of the Republic of Portugal, I am particularly proud of the fact that Portuguese people participated in the operations to rescue the victims of the attacks in New York, as well as in the hard work of preserving the memory of that day. I wanted to be with them as I came to New York, in the year when we commemorate the tenth anniversary of the 11th of September. I am very touched and grateful for your presence. But, above all, - as a Portuguese man and as President of the Republic – I feel grateful for your example of Humanity.

We should not recall the 11th of September only as a day of tragedy and pain. We should remember that, on that day, the sympathy and solidarity which crossed continents and borders were stronger than the fundamentalism that led to the cruelty of absurd deaths and the blindness of senseless destruction. In this sense, the 11th of September of 2011 was, paradoxically, a day of triumph for the spirit of Good.

We evoke this spirit every year. The best way to do this, especially this year, on its tenth anniversary, is to greet and thank everyone who took part in the rescue operations and in the work to build the New York Memorial.

In fact, the 11th of September Memorial is not in New York, in the square where the Twin Towers once stood. The most authentic memorial is in our hearts and in our spirit, and there it will remain forever. We will never forget.

Thank you very much.