9/11: Remember for them

Staff Editorial

Seventeen years ago, two planes changed America forever.

For those who are old enough, the memory of that day will never fade. Some college students now are young enough though that the events of 9/11 are a story, and they have no real memories to remember or mourn.

As the events of that day get further and further away, it becomes more and more important to remember if you can and to learn if you can’t remember.

Without personal memories to draw on, it becomes more and more important to cement everything from that day into our collective memory.

Even though you may not be able to remember what the world looked like before, we have to learn from the tragedy and the decisions that followed so as not to repeat history.

Make it your burden to bear to carry a detail or two, a name, something from this with you so it is not forgotten or obliterated with the passage of time.

Watch the documentaries, listen to the stories, do whatever you can to keep this calamity alive.

That is not to say we as a nation should not move on, but the lessons and hardships surrounding this have yet to be learned or won.

That is why remembering is so important, especially right now.

The people that were callously murdered amidst the terror and ashes still haunt us today, they still have something to say.

Listen. 9/11 now is not a day about hate or about death, it is about the peace that follows.

It’s about all the people who died so we could live. The children whose parent left for work and then never returned. The heroes.

Sept. 11 is about taking those moments of silence to sit back and listen to the stories still rising from the ashes. It is not a distant memory.

Step outside of yourself and absorb the enormity of what happened; the ripple effects that are still seen today.

The News staff can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].