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09/11/2021

The war on terror ended on August 31, 2021. Was it worth it?

It’s hard to answer that question if I’m being honest. What I do know is that added to the 2,977 victims of the September 11th attacks, are the service members who lost their life fighting against terror. Add those who risked their lives digging in the rubble of Ground Zero looking for survivors. The civilians lost in the gunfights and drone strikes. The human toll is unfathomable. It’s difficult to really give an answer to that question because the story of September 11th is still happening now. Twenty years later, history is still being written.

World Trade Center

The north face of Two World Trade Center (South Tower) immediately after being struck by United Airlines Flight 175
  • September 11 attack NYC seen from space by Landsat7
  • World Trade Center 1 and 2 after planes struck each tower.
National September 11 Memorial & Museum, and base of the World Trade Center complex.

The Pentagon

  • Debris from Flight 77 scattered near the Pentagon
  • Aerial view of the collapsed area and subsequent fire damage
The Pentagon Memorial, shortly before it opened on September 11, 2008.

Flight 93

N591UA taxiing on September 8, 2001, three days before it was hijacked.
  • Flight 93 crash site
  • A boulder marks the impact zone of Flight 93.
The Flight 93 National Memorial visitor center from the plaza below, Pennsylvania, USA.

Ceremony Event

Watch one of the many livestreams commemorating the 20th Anniversary of the September 11th Attacks.

20 Years On —

I don’t recall what I was doing on September 11, 2001. But as I grew up, my interest in what unfolded that day lead me to read into the events. I could only imagine what people may have gone through. Looking at some of the footage, the only thing that comes to mind is that it’s scenes from a movie. That’s the only comparison I could think of to make sense of what I was watching. In school, I recall that on most of the school days that fell on September 11th, the principal would make an announcement. In social studies, certain teachers would show footage of the event, and talk about it briefly. I could see that it was a difficult subject to discuss.

I wonder what will become of this event if younger generations are not taught about the attacks, what led up to the attacks, and the response afterwards. In a recent interview with a father of a fallen firefighter, Lee Lelpi, made a remark about speaking at schools and asking kids what they knew about 9/11. Their response: “What is 9/11?”.

Special Thanks to —

Images

Cover — Photo by Steve Harvey on Unsplash

Various images sourced from: Wikipedia: September 11 Attacks

Video

CBS News YouTube: Watch Live: 9/11 ceremonies, events and coverage on 20th anniversary | CBSN – YouTube

Sources