Always Remember
By Brittany G.
The flights were: American Airlines Flight 11, United Airlines Flight 175, United Airlines Flight 93, and American Airlines Flight 77.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, 2,977 people said goodbye to their husbands, wives, parents, children, and friends, and went to work as ordinary Americans. They left behind families, memories, voicemails, and messages, but none of them returned home. Nineteen years later, the kids President Bush visited in Sarasota are in their 20’s, and Freedom Tower rises proudly above the 2,977 names etched in metal around two stunning massive reflecting pools. Nineteen years have passed, but the names, memories, and families need to be remembered. Not just by the families who still mourn, but by every single American who was blessed to survive September 11, 2001. While we might not all personally know someone who perished that day, as Americans, we should feel the collective empathy, heartache, and loss those in New York felt. President George W. Bush famously claimed, “today, we are all New Yorkers,” in the face of destruction, adversity, and tragedy, to bring our country together.
I was only two years old on the day the towers were knocked down. Though I have no personal memories of the attack, the day still resonates with me more than any other historical tragedy. While it’s imperative to mourn and recognize the tremendous loss of life, it is also necessary to understand who carried the attack and why they carried it out. In recent years, comments from Rep. Omar, among others, have sought to downplay the intent and severity of the attacks in light of post-9/11 US military engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan. Comments like “some people did something” ignore the facts, and attempt to make sense of 9/11 within the context of “American aggression.” The attack was carried out by 19 members of al-Qaeda with the intent of eliminating western ideals and striking fear into the hearts of a nation they saw antithetical to their own religious views. The attack was not just “some people doing something,” but an ideological attack on patriotism, religious tolerance, and all other truths this nation holds to be self-evident. This attack stole 2,997 lives from us, it robbed kids of parents, and mothers of children, but it is critical to understand that the attack failed. Though shaken, the United States remained standing, stronger than before, with a renewed vigor and a vengeance for those fallen.
However, the events of 9/11 transcend those 19 militants; their names are not worth reciting today because today is about the heroes. Today, we remember not those who attempted to tear our country apart and instilled fear, but the 2,997 civilian lives taken. Four hundred twelve of those deaths were emergency first responders who rushed into smoking buildings to save others. Think about the 60 police officers who died rushing civilians to safety and sprinting up stairwells the next time someone shouts to “defund the police.” Those responders ran into burning buildings knowing they wouldn’t come out. The firefighters and K-9 units physically moved burning doors and directed the workers inside the Twin Towers to safety as the floors above them caved in. It would be a gross injustice to their memory not to acknowledge and commend their heroism, bravery, and patriotism. The first responders represent the best of America, they represent the best in humanity, and they represent the gritty, valiant spirit of this great country.
President Bush was right— we truly were all New Yorkers on that day of fire. As 2,997 lives fell, the entire country rose as one united community. Schools held prayer services and memorials— my elementary and middle school even had a special ceremony, “Cookies for Courage” for all the first responders in our town, where our parish priest blessed the emergency vehicles while we prayed for their continued safety and gifted them platters of cookies. However, as the years pass, to some, 9/11 begins to feel like a historical stat in a history book instead of a living memory. 9/11 feels more like a faraway inflection point than a routine reminder of what this country is at its finest.
I am writing this article because, as time goes on, our society grows more and more forgetful of 9/11. I was appalled this year over attempts to forgo the memorial ceremony. 9/11 shouldn’t be treated like history— it should be a memory, a feeling, and a reminder that our country’s freedoms were attacked. This attack was significant because it sought to rip apart everything America stands for. It was more than an attack on American bodies— it was an attack on Western life. So we should all remember, repeatedly, the tragic day where civilian lives were lost, and our freedoms remained. There is something genuinely heinous about using civilian aircraft in an attempt to rip the spirit of America apart. I honestly cannot stress enough how imperative it is to our futures and the 2,997 dead heroes’ memories to understand that this day should never have happened. We should not have to feel the horror every year that innocent people from all walks of life were robbed of another day— children on their way to Disneyland, husbands flying to work in Los Angeles, pilots performing their jobs, or stockbrokers walking into their offices. Maybe stressing the horror instead of the unity is what it requires for this day never to be forgotten, but I think it needs both. It requires the knowledge that people jumped out of the towers because they did not want to burn alive. It requires knowing that United Airlines flight 93 crashed into a field in Pennsylvania in an attempt by the passengers to regain control and eliminate another plane crashing into a landmark. Still, it also requires the understanding that American flags were hung from every inch of New York and that people offered their homes and supplies to people stranded, that everyone became neighbors.
While I have never forgotten that day, and I never will, it shocks and pains me that there is an overall lack of respect, Memoriam, and honor for the day that changed the United States and so many families forever. I see girls pose for pictures in front of the Reflections’ pools while leaning against the names of the deceased. I see men burn out their cigarette on the plaques where names of the dead garnish, and drop their cigarette butts among trees in the Garden of Reflections where ashes and debris from the towers fell merely 19 years ago. Treating any public place like this is repulsive, but trashing a site where people who went to work one day and never came home is downright disgusting. Some see that 9/11 as an event where “some people did something” 19 years ago— an event to joke about, and an event to cancel. However, I believe it is our duty as Americans not to let their heroism exist vain, to keep sharing their names and their stories. While the wars that followed demanded justice, those citizens on the four planes, inside the Pentagon, and the towers were stripped of innocence.
We will probably never know what the target in Washington DC was, if they chose 9/11 because it corresponded with our emergency phone operating system, or if the four flights hijacked were selected because of the airline titles being patriotic. These facts genuinely do not matter in the scheme of it all because we do not remember this day for the terrorists; we do it for every American that was lost that horrific day. We do it for our country.
September 11 is both intimate and monumental. It is the day our modern America evolved, and it is the day we united as one nation. But it is also the story of those 2,997 people and the honor we have been entrusted with to bestow among generations to tell their stories of bravery. We see ourselves in them, and that is why we will never forget. On that day, two towers, four flights, and 2,997 people fell, but since then, the 1,776 ft middle finger of a tower rose, as did the nation held up under the ideals of patriotism, compassion, and unity. 9/11 proved to be a testament to our spirit, may we always remember.
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