Sept. 11, 2001, was a wake-up call for all Americans.
It has been almost a quarter-century since 19 Islamic jihadi terrorists attacked the United States in a dastardly assault on New York City’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The murder of 2,606 Americans and 372 from other countries resulted in a world fundamentally changed. And if Americans thought vast oceans protected them from the mass terrorism afflicting other places in the world, 9/11 was a strong dose of reality.
9/11 a Wake-Up Call
When the United States realized that it was not invulnerable, it launched a campaign to wage war on terrorists. In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, President George W. Bush used the phrase “global war on terrorism.” It’s difficult to forget the iconic scene of Bush atop the wreck of a fire truck at the base of the rubble, addressing wearied responders, in a “bullhorn speech” that galvanized the nation. His comments were short but powerful. When several in the crowd yelled that they could not hear him, he said the famous and prescient words, “I can hear you. I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.” This was a call to action.
A little heralded demonstration of American capability when faced with extreme need was the amazing boatlift that carried as many as half a million employees working in downtown Manhattan to safety. Smithsonian magazine explained what took place. When the flames, smoking debris, and ashy smog enveloped the blocks around the fallen towers, people ran to the wharf area. As the crowd built up, the Coast Guard put out a call for all available commercial vessels – tugboats, charter vessels, and ferries – to move people from marinas and docks in lower Manhattan to New Jersey and Brooklyn. Smithsonian reported:
“For those working in or around the World Trade Center on that fateful day, the instinct was to flee the smoke, the flames, the falling debris, the clouds of ash … But where to go? Subways had screeched to a stop. The tunnels underneath the Hudson were closed. Outside of walking north — which many did — along streets and up the FDR Drive, or over the Brooklyn Bridge, which was open to pedestrians, only one obvious place remained: The water, towards the narrow strip of land snaking around the southern perimeter of Manhattan Island, generally known as the Battery.”
By the time the evacuation was completed, approximately 150 Coast Guard, commercial, and private boats had rescued more than 500,000 people, safely transporting them out of harm’s way. Just as the boatlift was a measure of Americans’ resilience in times of great trouble, Bush wanted to demonstrate to the world that you may knock down the United States, but its people will keep getting up. He made this point by throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at Yankee Stadium in New York City on Oct. 30, 2001, in the third game of the 2001 World Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the New York Yankees. Bush’s throw to the catcher, using America’s pastime as a backdrop, was a symbolic testament to the country’s fortitude and its refusal to surrender to evil. The subsequent years have proven that to be true. Al-Qaeda terrorists who were behind the attack are dead, as are tens of thousands of their members and supporters.
Fast forward 24 years, and President Donald Trump is scheduled to attend the New York Yankees vs Detroit Tigers game on Sept. 11, according to Fox News. His attendance at a baseball game on the anniversary of the most devastating domestic terrorist attack in America’s history is a tribute to the country’s resilience and an homage to President Bush, who showed the world that the United States would stand tall.
There Must Not Be a Time When America Forgets
The lives lost on that fall day in September 2001 mustn’t be forgotten. According to a Just the News report, “The Trump administration confirmed … that it is exploring whether the federal government could assume control of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City. The memorial is currently located on the Port Authority-owned land.” The National September 11 Memorial and Museum is a separate and distinct area within the larger World Trade Center complex. It has been a public charity since the memorial opened in 2014. The proposal for the memorial to become a national monument has not been well-received in some sectors. As noted in Just the News, New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said, “The 9/11 Memorial belongs to New Yorkers — the families, survivors, and first responders who have carried this legacy for more than two decades and ensured we never forget.”
Hochul could not be more wrong. Americans across the country have contributed to the memorial, rallied to the call for volunteers to help clean up the debris, and have come to the aid of the injured. Some were even among the 9/11 victims as the World Trade Center towers collapsed. Designating the memorial and museum a national monument would make it a nationwide symbol of personal courage, resilience, and love of country. The United States has emerged from the 9/11 assault stronger and wiser.
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