Americans are looking back on the horror and legacy of 9/11, gathering Monday at memorials, firehouses, city halls and elsewhere to observe the 22nd anniversary of the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil.
Commemorations stretch from the attack sites — at New York’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania — to Alaska and beyond. President Joe Biden is due at a ceremony on a military base in Anchorage.
His visit, en route to Washington, D.C., from a trip to India and Vietnam, is a reminder that the impact of 9/11 was felt in every corner of the nation, however remote. The hijacked plane attacks claimed nearly 3,000 lives and reshaped American foreign policy and domestic fears.
I remember well. It was the ultimate gut punch and marked the turn from a more optimistic and innocent time to the cynical reality we’re still living in. The 90’s were by far not perfect, but for many it was a dream compared to life since 2001.
After Covid killed more people daily than 9/11 every day for a year and no one cared, I’m just done caring a single event that happened decades ago when a larger tragedy more recent was ignored.
That’s what makes terrorism terrorism. It not only inflicts casualties, it causes terror. A terror that impacts individual and collective thoughts. It impacts policy and government action.
Before 9/11, most terrorists used explosives.
9/11 changed our view of how big they can really go. Scary stuff.
You know, it’s weird, I remember more details of where I was when the Challenger blew up more than I do when 9/11 happened. I remember so clearly learning that the Challenger blew up when we were at lunch in school (it was a private school and our asshole teacher wouldn’t let us watch). I remember the gasps, the chatter afterwards, I remember one of the girls crying. I remember the asshole teacher just walking back into the classroom to eat his lunch. I remember feeling so devastated because it was a teacher that died.
9/11? I was in my office and someone, I think maybe my dad, called me and told me a plane had hit the first tower. I do remember that I thought it was a Cessna or something, so I didn’t think much of it until someone told me about the plane hitting the second tower. I know I took the rest of the day off to watch things live, but I don’t remember what I saw on that day and what I saw replayed later.
I was also in high school at a private boarding school. I had free time before lunch and went to my room to relax. A friend came in and told me to turn on the radio. We listened to the news for about 15 minutes utes before heading to the cafeteria for lunch.
One of the cafeteria workers saw me when I came in and asked me if I was ok. I said that the space shuttle had blown up, and her reaction was along the lines of “Yeah, right”. I snapped and practically yelled at her to go turn on a radio if they had one then left.
I went back in about 15 minutes later and they had a radio on at that point. The same cafeteria worker saw me and apologized for her initial reaction.
I learned about 9/11 while in my car driving to work. Needless to say no work got done that day when I did finally get there.
I was in second grade when 9/11 happened, ancient teacher turned on the tv and we watched live while they did crosswords or something. A room full of second graders watched people die live on tv until the school went into lockdown and parents were called to come get kids. I had to wait longer than most since my dad was a prison guard and couldn’t get me due to the prison also going into lockdown of course
