EDITORIAL: Remembering 9/11

Published 8:00 am Saturday, September 11, 2021

Two decades have passed. 

A generation of young people has come of age in a world vastly different from the one we knew just moments before the first plane struck the North Tower. 

Our nation has changed. Our world has changed. Our outlook has changed. 

Flight 11, a hijacked a commercial jetliner, struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46 a.m., searing the collective conscience of the civilized world. Seventeen minutes later, at 9:03, Flight 175 struck the South Tower. Miles away, a third plane hit the Pentagon, then Flight 93 was downed in a Pennsylvania field. 

In the aftermath, the World Trade Center towers lay in tragic ruin. 

There will be numerous reflections and ceremonies this weekend and somber observances. 

So much has changed since that day — our outlook on the world, how we view or national security. And now, a war, our nation’s longest, which began in the wake of the attacks, has come to a tumultuous end. 

Those of us who are old enough can all still vividly recall where and where we were when we each first learned of the events of that day. For many of us, the memories, our reactions are still clear. Whether we knew someone in New York, Washington or Pennsylvania on the day of the attacks, or had never visited either city at all, we know the time. We still know the place. We are still are moved by our recollections of that moment. 

In this weekend’s paper and on our website, you’ll find several stories, both local and nationally generated reflecting on 9/11 and how it has shaped us in the two decades since. 

While our primary objective in publishing this special section is because as the daily newspaper in our local community, we are keepers of history. We are charged with recording our community’s historical record. It’s also to remember and to reflect on the years since that we have had time to process all that has transpired. 

The stories and the lives of those who perished in the attacks and in the Global War on Terror aren’t partisan or political. Their stories are human stories. Ones we shouldn’t forget. 

Reflecting on these events is also a reflection on the human experience. How we grieve. How we cope. How we carry on. It’s all a part of the story. Our story as individuals. 

Our story as a nation.