The real reason we must never forget

Twenty-three years ago, as the nation approached September 11 — a date indistinguishable from any other in the American mind — no one could have fathomed the horrors that would soon be unleashed on the nation. 

It was incomprehensible, at the time, to imagine crazed Islamic extremists might hijack a commercial flight, let alone four. It was incomprehensible that they might fly them into pedestrian and government buildings.

It was incomprehensible that nearly 3,000 Americans might soon be dead, casualties of a brutal terrorist attack.  

But that was life before 9/11 — a life about to change forever.

On that fateful morning, singer Harry Connick Jr. celebrated his 34th birthday. A promotional poster and trailer for Sam Raimi’s upcoming “Spider-Man” movie prominently featured the Twin Towers (they would soon edit both out of respect). The president had what Dan Bartlett, White House deputy communications director, called a “pretty cookie-cutter” day ahead of himself. By all accounts, the nation had a “pretty cookie-cutter” day ahead of itself. 

But nothing could have been further from the truth.

“The enduring power of the Sept. 11 attacks is clear,” Pew Research reports. “An overwhelming share of Americans who are old enough to recall the day remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news.”

The news.

The news that American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 had flown into the World Trade Center and that American Airlines Flight 77 had struck the Pentagon. The news that New York City’s tallest towers had crumbled. That a fourth flight, United Airlines Flight 93, was en route to the nation's capital.

The news that America was under attack.

According to Pew’s earliest polling, conducted just days after the attacks, a majority of American adults “(71%) said they felt depressed, nearly half (49%) had difficulty concentrating and a third said they had trouble sleeping” following the unforgettable events of that day. “By the following August,” Pew added, “half of U.S. adults said the country ‘had changed in a major way’ – a number that actually increased, to 61%, 10 years after the event.”

Clearly, what began as an ordinary day ended as the most haunting in recent American history. Still to this day, the evils perpetrated on that day are incomprehensible to most Americans.

But something else was — and still is — incomprehensible about 9/11: the national unity that succeeded it. 

For a brief yet poignant moment in American history, politics ceased to matter. Our divisions and disputes faded into insignificance. What mattered was that we were all Americans — one nation under God — and we had been attacked. In the face of an unfathomable tragedy and unspeakable evil, we would join together, stand together, and support each other.

We were united.

Today, when we say “never forget” — a solemn post-9/11 pledge — we vow to do more than just recall the tragic events that shocked our nation. We also honor the unity, faith, and patriotism that strengthened us and rekindled our love for the red, white, and blue. That is what reminds us that through the darkest tragedies and trials, America has always prevailed and, if only we would stand with God and each other again, can continue to triumph over adversity.