Remembering 9/11 – and Putting it in Perspective

Remembering 9/11 – and Putting it in Perspective: "It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years today. We all remember where we were like it was yesterday, what we were doing when we heard what had happened, shortly before 9 a.m. We stood transfixed in front of a television, confused at first, not knowing at first if it had been an accident, then horrified by what we were seeing and hearing as we realized what had actually happened and was happening. The horror of that day won’t be forgotten by those who experienced it. But we could say the same thing of any other horrible event, and we’re not the first generation to feel this way about the defining trauma of our lives.

I have no intention here of downplaying 9/11, what it meant to America and to the world, or of minimizing the horror, chaos, deaths and damage caused by Islamic terrorists when they hijacked four planes and crashed two of them into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Besides the 19 hijackers, nearly 3,000 Americans died that day. It was horrible and we are all marked by it. And unlike any previous historical trauma, we have it all captured on film, in color and audio recordings of 911 calls and cell phone calls from inside the towers to emergency personal and to loved ones. It is safe to say 9/11 is the best recorded trauma in human history...."