Seventeen years ago our country changed. I can remember exactly where I was and what I was doing on that fateful day.
I imagine most Americans do the same.
Today is no different. I remember.
A world in crisis. People coming together to help. People risking their lives, sacrificing so much. Already this morning I’ve fought through tears reading news stories, viewing Facebook memories, and seeing tributes on television.
Every year since 9/11 I have spent time reading, studying, wanting to understand more about what happened. Moved by stories and an urge to protect (or perhaps even fight), some Americans joined the military or became a first responder. In the months and years after 9/11, began to read stories of inspiration, hope. I began studying the longest war. The War on Terror.
Seventeen years since a brutal, shocking day. Since then, we have become a nation at war. Since then, youngsters who were not born until after the infamous day are told about 9/11, Patriot Day, and now learn about the attacks on our country.
Americans are still angry, hurt. Today is an emotional day for many.
Seventeen years ago, some Americans felt a tug, a pull, a call to serve. An urge to fight evil, a desire to do good.
My husband is one of those Americans.
We honor those whose lives were lost in terrorist attacks on 9/11. Casualties of war followed and I know several men and women who care (or cared) for a veteran who was wounded or injured after 9/11. So many were inspired to volunteer (again, not just for the military, but as a first responder: police, EMT, fire) because of 9/11.
Seventeen years ago.
“No day shall erase you from the memory of time.”—Virgil
“As Virgil tells it, Nisus realized as he was fleeing from the enemy that he had been separated from Euryalus. Rather than spare himself, Nisus returned to a scene of mortal peril in the hope of saving another’s life. Both young men died as a result.
Now that sounds like a 9/11 story.”
The 60-foot long inscription above is at the National September 11 Memorial Museum. The letters are steel and made from the Twin Towers.