A row of white stickers on the gray granite marked where each of the arriving VIPs was to stand in a cordoned-off area at the 9/11 Memorial Square in New York City.

“BLOOMBERG” was written in black letters on the tombstone for former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who made the memorial possible and greeted those present as they arrived on Wednesday morning.

A man of impeccable manners, Bloomberg stepped forward to greet the first arrival, guiding Donald Trump – the former president and now once again the Republican nominee – to his sticker, which was to the left of his own.

“TRUMP.”

Bloomberg did the same with the next new arrival, which led him to the sticker to the right of his own.

“POTUS” was the inscription for President Biden.

Bloomberg also accompanied the next person to the sticker on the right.

“VPOTUS” was the slogan for Kamala Harris, the current Vice President and current Democratic presidential candidate.

Bloomberg didn’t forget the man whose sticker was to the left of Trump’s sticker.

“VANCE” was cast by U.S. Senator JD Vance, the current Republican candidate for Vice President.

Behind it was a second row of white stickers with the inscription “USSS” for agents of the US secret service.

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There they all were, America’s decisions about who will lead us into the immediate future – where another attack always remains a possibility.

Bloomberg again demonstrated the importance of good manners when he spoke quietly to Trump and then to Harris. The two candidates for the post of the next president had met for the first time the night before in a debate – in which terrorism was not even mentioned. Trump had grumbled afterwards that the meeting was “rigged”, but at Bloomberg’s behest he now extended his hand to Harris.

“You did a good job,” Trump seemed to say.

“Thank you, thank you,” Harris replied.

It was a moment of unity that followed the attack on the World Trade Center exactly 23 years earlier.

But then a woman standing in front of the VIP area among the family members of the September 11 victims began screaming as if she wanted to ask someone to rescue her.

“Donald! Donald! Donald! We love you, Donald! Woo! Donald, we need you! We won! We won!”

One man chimed in: “We love you, Donald!”

Trump has told a lot of lies about 9/11 over the years, including saying he saw people jumping from the burning towers from his home four miles away and that he saw footage on the TV news of hundreds of Muslims in New Jersey cheering the attack. However, it later turned out that these images did not exist.

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He also said he had lost “hundreds of friends” but had not been seen at any of the funerals, even those the FDNY had asked the public to attend because the survivors were spread out among so many services. He insisted he had spent “a lot of time” at Ground Zero, although he only appeared briefly on the sidelines two days after the towers fell to give an interview to German television. He did not return until April 2016, when he toured the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. Before that, he had not attended any of the annual commemorations in an election year.

But no matter how many lies he told, no matter how much Harris beat him in the debate, there are still many who support him – even among the families of the 2,977 innocents murdered that day in the World Trade Center.

This did not change when the shouting died down and the ceremonial reading of the names began. A fireman wearing white gloves rang a ceremonial silver ball five times to mark the minutes of silence set aside for the impact of the two planes and the collapse of the towers.

At the end of the memorial, someone knelt with the monument and scratched off all the stickers. Trump made his way across town. He had been invited to the quarters of FDNY Engine 4, Ladder 15, who had lost 16 loved ones that day – showing America the best in us.

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The official death toll does not include the babies of the ten pregnant women who died in the World Trade Center on September 11. Their names are each engraved in the memorial pools with four additional words. Among them is Helen Crossin Kittle, a 34-year-old computer specialist on the 103rd floor of the North Tower. She was five months pregnant.

“Helen Crossin Kittle and her unborn child,” reads the inscription.

The 10 unborn children would now be 23 years old. One way to honor the life they will never have is to create moments of unity – like the one we witnessed for far too brief a time on Wednesday next to the North Tower footprint where Kittle died.

Bloomberg – who ran unsuccessfully for president in 2020 but was not even nominated because he is simply smart and qualified and decent and politically courageous – has shown us one thing we need for that: simple manners.