“Always Remember.” That is what everyone says every year on September 11th.
In truth, unless most people were directly affected by the events on 9/11, they don’t pay much attention to it. Growing up, 9/11 had more than one day dedicated to it. It seems as if people post things on social media on that day to draw attention to themselves. It is sad to say how many people do not know what actually took place on 9/11.
A close friend of mine teaches high school and she implemented a lesson about 9/11. She showed a video of the events of that tragic day. More than half of her class has never seen the planes hitting on 9/11. These kids had so many questions. She changed her lesson plans for the month and decided to dedicate September to the history and explanation of 9/11.
I don’t want to say we forgot about what happened on that day, but the people who were born after me didn’t experience it firsthand. They do not feel the heaviness of 9/11 as those who witnessed it.
Some places, such as Monmouth University, do observe 9/11. Monmouth University paid its respects by ringing the bells at the times of the crashes. Hoboken, NJ had its yearly memorial service, this time adding in memorial windows. Each window was dedicated to one of the 57 Hoboken residents who lost their lives on 9/11. In New York they held a remembrance at the sight on 9/11 where all victims’ names were spoken aloud as well as a little bit about them.
The gestures taken on 9/11 were a good start, but that’s all they were—a start. People need to start teaching the younger generations about what happened. Eventually, the people who know what happened on 9/11 are going to die. If we don’t teach the people who come after us, no one is going to know. Eventually, 9/11 will become an event of the past, a part of the past that no one remembers.
9/11 should not only be talked about on that day. It should always be remembered, and the people whose lives were taken should be celebrated. People usually only talk about the lives lost in the towers and the fear those people faced. Rarely do people talk about the heroic actions of the crew and passengers of flight 93 that was crashed in Somerset County, PA.
Often, we talk about the people who lost their lives and what their lives were like. Everyone forgets that some people survived. I think it is time we start talking about them as well. The survivors should be celebrated just as much as the dead, because they too took heroic action. Those who died are seen as heroic because they gave their lives. I don’t think only the people who died were heroes. You don’t need to give your life to be a hero. What makes these people heroes is that they tried to stop the events that took place on that tragic evening.
September 11, 2001 was a day everybody should know. A day everyone respects. If it was up to me, work and school would be cancelled as a day of observance. It needs to be talked about on more than just that day.
I will never forget 9/11, and I hope the same can be said for other people.
