Remembering 9/11

Twenty-three years.

It hardly seems that it has been that long since the events of September 11, 2001, shocked the world, changing it forever.

"The 9/11 attacks killed 2,977 people. This was the single largest loss of life resulting from a foreign attack on American soil. The attacks caused the deaths of 441 first responders, the greatest loss of emergency responders on a single day in American history," according to information on the 9/11 Memorial & Museum website (911memorial.org).

In the days since, a number of first responders and others have died as a result of breathing in the dust generated by the towers' collapse.

A timeline of the attacks as provided by the 9/11 Memorial & Museum (911memorial.org):

8:46 a.m. Eastern: Hijackers crash American Airlines Flight 11 into floors 93-99 of the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. Seventy-six passengers, 11 crew members and hundreds inside the North Tower were killed instantly. The crash also trapped hundreds of people above the 91st floor.

9:03 a.m. Eastern: Hijackers crash United Airlines Flight 175 into floors 77-85 of the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Fifty-one passengers, nine crew members, and a number of people inside the building were killed instantly. The crash also trapped a number of people located above the impact zone and inside elevators.

9:37 a.m. Eastern: Hijackers crash American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon in Arlington, Va. Fifty-three passengers and six crew members were killed. Additionally, 125 military and civilian personnel on the ground were killed in the crash and the fire that followed.

9:59 a.m. Eastern: The South Tower, which had been burning for 56 minutes, collapses in 10 seconds, killing more than 800 civilians and first responders inside the building and in the surrounding area.

10:03 a.m. Eastern: Hijackers crash United Airlines Flight 93 in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Thirty-three passengers and seven crew members were killed. Hijackers were flying the plane toward Washington, D.C., however a number of passengers and crew members forced the hijackers to crash the plane near Shanksville.

10:15 a.m. Eastern: A section of the Pentagon's west-facing outer ring collapses.

10:28 a.m. Eastern: The North Tower of the World Trade Center collapses after burning for 102 minutes, killing hundreds of additional people.

5:20 p.m. Eastern: 7 World Trade Center, a 47-story building, collapses after burning for hours.

If you are unable to visit the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York City, I encourage you to visit the organization's website (911memorial.org) or follow the organization on Facebook (facebook.com/911memorial).

It is important that we remember September 11, 2001, where we were, what we felt, and how we came together as a nation. 

After running a errand, I had just gotten to work at Emporia State. Some of my coworkers were watching TV in the conference room next to my office. I popped in to see what they were watching and found out the North Tower had been struck by a plane. A short time later, I stared in horror as the South Tower was struck.

Nothing like this had ever happened in the United States. The attacks of 9/11 prompted a myriad of feelings and reactions from the United States citizenry. Among them, shock, horror, disbelief, and anger. The attacks showed us and the world that the United States was not invulnerable to attacks by extremist groups. Eventually, many of those feelings were channeled into a united patriotism.

A decade or so after the attacks, I and a group of coworkers at another workplace were remembering and discussing the events of 9/11. Another colleague happened by and began pontificating that all of the vows to always remember were hollow and worthless. We couldn't, he claimed, remember 9/11 because we weren't there.

Those comments were such BS. I don't know whether he actually believed what he was saying or he was just trying to provoke us. Either way, I lost a great deal of respect for him that day.

While it is true that we were not physically in or near any of the sites that were attacked, we were able to see what had happened in those locations thanks to numerous journalists and photographers. Thanks to video gathered by journalists, we were able to see the towers being struck. We also saw their collapse. We saw wreckage at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania. What we saw stirred a multitude of emotions.

One of the more haunting images from that day, at least for me, was Falling Man. Associated Press photographer Richard Drew captured the image of a man falling headfirst from the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

In a story marking the 20th anniversary of 9/11 and republished last year by the Associated Press (https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-health-talk-shows-newspapers-bc2d6b72e8733f2065ee8979ce2ef9c2), Drew wrote, "I was below the north tower that morning, on the corner of West and Vesey streets. The smoke was so thick, it was tough to see and tougher to breathe. Rubble was falling, and when I heard the first of a series of loud cracks, I thought it was the sound of concrete debris striking the ground. But I was wrong. It was the sound of human beings hitting the pavement."

Drew noted that he focused on one person falling from the North Tower, shooting eight frames. That person became known as Falling Man.

While Drew shot a number of photos that day, Falling Man is probably his most well known photo. While he got a number of compelling shots on 9/11, Drew also battled Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome because of his 9/11 work to capture moments in history for the rest of us.

In the 20th anniversary story, Drew contrasts his Falling Man photo with photos he shot when Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968. It is an interesting read and I encourage you to do so.

Drew's work, and the work of many other journalists, help us to remember the events and aftermath of 9/11.

We do remember and we will remember.