Sept. 11 is a day of remembrance
Americans should retain the unity that emerged from that tragic day
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A whole generation of Americans can remember exactly where they were and what they were doing on Nov. 22, 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
On Friday, the nation will mark the 25th anniversary of another unforgettable tragedy. Millions will remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they learned that the United States had been attacked by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001.
For about 15 minutes after the first jet hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center on that September morning, it was possible to believe that a horrifying accident had occurred.Then the second jet hit the South Tower. Then a third jet hit the Pentagon.
The terrorists had seized a fourth jet, but it would never hit whatever target the deranged attackers had picked. Passengers aboard Flight 93 had figured out what was happening and determined that the plane they were aboard was not going to be used as a weapon. They rushed the cockpit, essentially sacrificing their lives to save hundreds or perhaps thousands more on the ground. Their plane, out of control and upside down, slammed into the hills outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at 500 mph.
We must remember those passengers on Friday and on every other day, for they embodied the bravery and spirit that make the United States unique among the world's nations.
We must also remember the rescuers who rushed to the World Trade Center to help others, and never went home again. The grim toll included 343 members of the Fire Department of New York, 37 members of the Port Authority Police Department, 23 members of the New York Police Department and one member of the New York Fire Patrol, a salvage unit once operated by the New York Board of Fire Underwriters.
And let us not forget the thousands of people who went to work at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that morning who never went home that evening.
And while we're reflecting on that tragic day, there is something else that should also be remembered – the way our country came together after a tragedy that shook it to its core. Every bit of disagreement about economics, culture, race or class evaporated, to be replaced by the concept of united we stand.
People lined up to donate blood. Others flocked to military recruiting offices.
Americans lifted each other up. The dead were buried with honor. The injured were nursed back to health. Parts of Manhattan and the Pentagon were rebuilt. The hills near Shanksville became sacred ground.
And Osama bin Laden and his cohorts soon found out what happens to those who provoke the united American people.
That spirit of unity was fostered in no small part by the passengers of Flight 93 and all the other victims of the 9/11 attack. Each of us should honor their memory by doing our part to restore and preserve that sense of unity for decades to come.