On the 15th anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the Twin Towers, I thought it would be fitting to write an article to thank our police, firefighters and all other first responders. It was a day that shook not only New York, but the country as a whole. I’d like to express my deepest and most sincere apologies to everyone who lost a loved one in the attacks. I was too young to remember the day in detail, but I can definitely remember its aftermath and how it affected people close to me. However, although it was easily the worst day our country has seen in recent memory, it was beautiful to see how our country came together, united.
An attack that killed almost 3,000 people and injured 6,000 more should never be forgotten. We should also never forget to thank the people who kept those numbers from being higher than what they were. I want to take this opportunity to thank the first responders for their selflessness, dedication and heroism when it came to protecting our city on that horrible day. More than 400 emergency workers were killed when the towers came down.
This is why I get extremely mad when emergency workers, specifically our police, are degraded and belittled in the media. Though I am in no denial that there are racial injustices in our country, I do not believe that the bad rap the police are getting is deserved. Although some of it comes from the fact that was my dad was a cop, it’s just more about respecting those that keep us safe. Of course, there are bad apples in every profession, but that does not mean our country should be moving toward an era of violence and disrespect toward our police.
I understand that people don’t like the police, but can we really judge if we weren’t in the shoes of the cops who shot? I don’t think that you can perfectly walk in anyone else's shoes, so we can’t say what we would have done in anyone else’s position, whether it be a cop shooting or a teacher giving a bad grade or a kid cheating on a test. The protests to police brutality should never have resulted in killing cops. I’m not saying that black lives don’t matter because they definitely do, but so do blue lives.
Just imagine a single day without the police. Just one day. Now imagine if that day were 9/11 or any other day where the police and firefighters were needed. Don’t you think the death toll would have been higher? That is why I wrote this article; to say thank you to all the first responders for keeping us safe on 9/11 and always. 9/11 is a day that we will continue to remember for decades to come. I can’t believe it’s already been 15 years.