This date 14 years ago started out as just any other ordinary day. There were clear blue skies as far as the eye could see, as men and women woke up to begin their daily routines. They dropped their kids off at school and went on their way to work, not knowing what the day would bring just a short hour later.
On September 11, 2001, the Islamic extremist group known as Al-Quaeda hijacked four United States airplanes with intent to attack. Two of these planes flew into the World Trade Center in New York City, one hit the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and the fourth went down in a Pennsylvania field. It was 8:46 a.m. when the first plane made contact with the north tower of the World Trade Center. What was initially perceived as a possible accident was soon proved to be wrong when a second plane struck the south tower. Roughly an hour later, the third plane crashed into the west side of the Pentagon. Just as D.C. began to deal with the devastating crisis, the Twin Towers back in New York began to collapse into a cloud of smoke and debris. As the catastrophe continued in both states, an act of bravery occurred on the fourth flight (which was said to have been traveling to D.C. as well). The passengers of the flight had previously heard of the terror occurring and took it upon themselves to take down their hijackers. The plane went down in a Pennsylvania field at about 10:10 a.m. Approximately 3,000 people lost their lives as well as near 10,000 were severely injured on that tragic day. A day that no one ever saw coming.
That is what I have learned about 9/11 over the years. Like many others around my age, we were too young to understand or even remember the events that transpired on that day fourteen years ago. My memory of the day is extremely limited and most of it comes from what my parents have told me. Due to the fact that I live just an hour outside of New York City, my school district was on lockdown upon hearing the news. I vaguely remember seeing the disturbing images on television and knowing that my dad, previously a member of the NYPD, was in the city at the time. To this day, he still tells me stories of the things he knows and experienced pertaining to that day. Outside of his knowledge and my hazy memory, everything I have learned about 9/11 has come from my own research. Since the tragedy resonates so close to home with me, I felt compelled while growing up to know as much as I could about it. Unfortunately, this information did not come from a learning environment at all.
Throughout my entire schooling experience so far, I have very few memories of 9/11 ever being talked about in school. When I first began high school as a freshman, we used to have moments of silence at the times when the buildings were struck. Then I was a sophomore, my history teacher took it upon herself to give her own presentation and lesson on the tragedy. Unfortunately, as my years continued, these moments stopped occurring. We no longer had moments of silence and the day wasn’t so much as mentioned by any teacher during class. I find this to be a massive issue. 9/11 is not just a part of history, it was our reality. We were alive when it happened and almost everyone knows someone who was affected. The catastrophe shook the entire foundation of America, yet no one mentions it anymore. What we have to remember is that 9/11 was just as important as events such as The Civil War. Lives were forever changed that day. Starting at 8:46 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, an entire war began. People lost family that day and people continue to lose family overseas in the war that stemmed from those attacks. We cannot forget this. Especially now that we are coming into the generation of kids who were not alive when it happened, I find it more pertinent that the memory stay alive. We are the last generation to have been alive during the tragedy. They did not experience it nor do they fully understand it. By not continuing to mention it, we are letting it fade into the past. Letting this occur is not fair to those who lost and risked their lives that day.
The popular phrase that is constantly tagged with the day is “Never Forget.” We need remember what happened on that awful day in 2001 and what it brought to the world we live in today. It is our job as people who experienced history to pass it on to those who were not there. We need to do this through lessons, guest speakers, and memorials. September 11, 2001 affected every aspect of the way we live our lives today. It even changed the way people look at the world. It is very much a part of our lives today as it was fourteen years ago. We need to not live in the past, but learn from it. Reflect on it. And most of all, remember and honor those we lost on that tragic day.
