Today is a Day of Quiet Contemplation · 12:37pm Sep 11th, 2023
September 11th, 2001.
I was merely a thought in my parent's mind at the time. Maybe not even that, when we, as the United States were attacked.
Many people know of the World Trade Center, but that wasn't the only target. Today, 22 years ago, our Pentagon was also attacked.
There would've been another plane too, if the passengers hadn't risen above their fear and forced it down in a remote countryside area.
I just want to write on these events.
Many today are either completely unattached to it, or boil it down to something as simple as 'Well, we had it coming.'
These people miss the point. Regardless of whether or not we 'had it coming' or how distanced they are, nearly 3,000 people were still killed.
That's right, they didn't die, they were killed. This is an important distinction.
This was an attack on America. People were killed. Murdered.
I'm not going to give the act any more energy than that.
2,753 people were killed in New York.
343 Firefighters and Paramedics.
23 NYPD officers.
184 people were killed in the attack on the Pentagon.
The youngest victim was Christine Lee Henson. She was on United Flight 175.
She was two and a half years old.
The oldest victim was Robert Norton. He was on Flight 11.
He was eighty-two.
Many of these people were just reaching their prime at the time of the attack, or would be reaching their prime today, twenty-two years later.
Think on the impact they could've had on today's world. It might be an entirely different world.
But we'll never know.
I want everyone to take a short moment of silence. Think on this attack.
Think on any other attack.
Think on war.
Think on school shootings.
Think on any other attack.
Think on loss.
9/11 remembrance is more than just looking at statistics, and giving no further thought. It's a time to contemplate what could have been. And to mourn what was lost. 9/11 isn't the only attack that should be remembered. But I, personally, will never forget.
22 years may have come and gone, but we'll never forget for what happened on this day 22 years ago.