September 11, 2001 is a fateful day that is etched into the memories of all those who were witness to the day’s events. It's a day that has changed a nation and changed all of its citizens forever. Yet even as I write this, I am reminded of news reports that I have heard that mention schools that either refuse to or have failed to introduce lessons on 9/11 and its significance to our nation as part of their curriculum. While the event can be painfully difficult to recount, it is crucial to help our nation’s youth understand the events. Just as recounting Pearl Harbor, the Holocaust, the evils of communism and fascism, and other atrocities that have occurred in our nation’s and our world’s history is important, so is recounting the terrors of 9/11.
As I had stated in an earlier post regarding this tragic event:
The day we forget is the day we dishonor all the heroes who gave their lives to save so many on that fateful day. The moment we forget is the moment we dishonor all the men and women who have forsaken loved ones to toil in sweat and blood in a land they don't know to defend our liberties from a terrible foe. When we forget, we forget who we are. And we forget what monsters man can become.
We must remember it because it changed us, and in many ways redefined us.
The changes, adverse and positive, that our nation underwent over such a short period were dramatic. In come cases, they were short-lived. I have heard reports of there being no crimes reported in Manhattan for nearly 72 hrs after the event. Church attendance nationwide increased, but has since sunk back to pre-9/11 levels. Military recruitment saw a sharp, but temporary boost.
Other effects of the atrocities of that day 10 years ago still affect us and will continue to affect us for years to come. Our nation, to this day, is involved in several wars and military actions overseas in which we would not be involved if not for 9/11. Our nation’s airports, ports, military bases, government installations, and other locations have instituted and continue to practice security measures that would have been considered unnecessary before the attacks. An entire agency (DHS) was created in response to the attacks. Our nation’s citizens are more security conscious than ever, too. The “shoe-bomber” and the “times square bomber” were both stopped or reported by regular citizens as a result of a heightened sense of security.
These events have also scarred us. Not long ago, I heard a news reporter mention that he mistook thunder he heard while waiting for a flight at an airport as a bomb blast. Many people in DC initially believed the earthquake the area recently experienced to be some sort of a terrorist attack. As a result of my tour in Afghanistan, which would not have occurred but for 9/11, I still cringe at the sight of debris on the side of road while driving. Thousands of other servicemen who have fought in what are beginning to be known as “wars of injury” have other issues with which they must cope as an indirect result of these attacks.
While many of the effects of the terrorist attacks 10 years ago are negative, I still believe that the long-lasting effects are more positive than not. People seem to fly flags more often. Pride in our nations and its military is stronger than before. Even in dissent against military action, rarely is ill spoken of the troops that are involved in said engagements. While evil men thought they would destroy our spirits that day, the actually brought us closer together, made us stronger.
As a few excerpts from an Associated Press article written by Tamara Lush read:
“On a day when buildings fell, heroes rose." – George W. Bush
“On a grand scale, Sept. 11 provided us with a heroism of humanity. It showed that many people are capable of profound qualities of heroism and self-sacrifice. It is really the content of the human spirit.” – Al Mascherino, Roman Catholic Priest
While 9/11 may have showed us the horrific lows to which man may descend, it also showed us the strength of human character and the goodness and strength that is within all of us.
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