This American Remembers: Reflections on 9/11/01 and Thereafter

Today marks twenty years from the day my high school math teacher informed the class of the hijacking on the United Airline flight that flew into the World Trade Center. Many of us can recall where we were when we heard the news. For myself, the entire student body recited the pledge of allegiance about an hour before the attacks.

Mr. C was a good math teacher, but as soon as he shared the tragedy with us, his panic seemed to cause my thoughts to scatter. Being it was my third day as a freshman, I’d misinterpreted his announcement and immediately thought he meant our school was under attack. I think the confusion lifted after I reached third-period technology class where the teacher showed live news footage around 10:00 in the morning.

The billows of smoke in the atmosphere were only 150 miles due south of our school’s location. They signaled such a wave of fear that all of us were sent home by noon in a state of emergency. With amateur journalist instincts, I interviewed classmates that very morning to record their reactions to the bizarre events which unfolded in these first days of our high school careers.

“Amanda, what’s your take on today’s terrorist attacks on the towers in New York City?” I scribbled the question on my college-ruled notepad, going for a history-in-the-making response.

Whether scared, embarrassed, or stunned, she laughed in reply. “This is a really terrible thing that’s happened.”

I couldn’t capture the intense feelings on the page at that young age. But I’ll attempt to remember it here.

I recall how surreal it felt to go to Manhattan one month after the terrorist attacks, as the school bus drove us into the flame-imbued smog of New York. Our championship cross-country team traveled annually to the Manhattan College Invitational. But this year, the polluted air conditions weighed on our sense of pride, feeling our American identity wasn’t so revered by the world. The extremists were collectively seen as our enemies, and the message they sent was clear. Their war cry of “Death to America!” emboldened Americans, young and old, to cling to our proud heritage of patriotism and liberty.

After the attacks, the newspapers’ headlines screamed

U.S. ATTACKED

A DAY OF INFAMY

ACT OF WAR

Professional journalists did what I couldn’t at that young age. They captured the shock and awe about the state of our Union. Perhaps in an attempt to contribute my part in preserving history, I collected every newspaper that was delivered over the next few months and piled them under the living room end table.

At fourteen years old, I wanted to do my part to ensure the narrative of our freedoms and rights wasn’t forgotten. Such a catastrophic historic event should not be forgotten, I thought. It encapsulated the strength of our country in banding together as we did. It proved what Americans were made of. It shined a light on the tragedy while glorifying everyday heroes—firefighters, police, EMS. More than that, it was a turning point in our nation’s history. But time would determine, our nation was turning in any anticipated or expected direction.

At first, many non-church-going people from our community flocked to our church to seek the Lord. I believe people did this because it gave credence to our collective idea of the God whom our nation trusted. He couldn’t be the same god of the attackers, who summoned their religious act of war on the US out of their Jihad ideology. Our Judeo-Christian God, the famed God who blessed America, had to be able to save us. And avenge us. Which is why we waged war on terrorism, right, President Bush? We had to be policeman of the world and wield our strong banner of might of the Judeo-Christian God who blessed America. So we went to war in all the strength we could muster. The U.S. Department of Defense ramped up our military, new recruits enlisting daily.

More and more, Americans shared their pride and showed up. I’ll never forget the image of the line of cars at a large intersection in my hometown. Soon after the attacks, it became popular to buy American flags to fly outside car windows. Every vehicle in that lineup of what seemed like dozens of cars at a stoplight, waved the red and white stripes, while the blue and white star pattern flickered in the wind. I wish I’d had a camera phone to capture the moment.

Unfortunately, September 11^th, 2001 was eventually forgotten, if not disregarded—not by any intentional conscious decision—but by the typical flow of life in the years and decades that followed. Our nation still hasn’t truly turned back to God collectively any more than we did in the immediate aftermath. It was a prayer, a hope, a wish from many Christians’ hearts, for the Lord to save America. This nation, in its state of emergency, seemed to be under attack in more ways than one. The soul of our nation was not to be eternally saved from the inevitable end of every nation that’s come before. But, the hope of our homeland is that it answered the call to serve and protect the liberties and rights our Creator inherently endows us.

Today, I feel privileged to be married to an active-duty U.S. service member. As a military spouse, I hold the role of standing by my man in uniform and support the areas he works in to defend our freedoms, rights, and liberty. Especially considering the current administration’s unprecedented strategies in and around the Middle East, our community of servicemen and women need support and validation now as much as before. If you or your active-duty spouse are beginning to question or doubt the way things are going, hold on. There is hope.

This day acted as a threshold to the current times that have unfolded. We entered the war with Afghanistan and Iraq to serve justice and protect the innocent and contend with extremists. However, the recent turn of events within that region echoes the call for justice we heard in the sirens of the first responders who rushed to the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. When evil forces attack, there must be a response out of law and order, righteousness, and justice.

Until the next chapter unfolds, we wait and pray. It is a time that is dark for those in the Middle East, and for those who served and whose loved ones served in the wars; it hurts. What has always brought us together must be what brings us back together at the present—that is, to again be one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.