2008 Woodie Awards
Remember September
Scott Cullinane
Issue date: 9/6/06 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
For the past four years, we have remembered 9/11. This year, I request, entreat, and implore us all to remember that day so it may retain its meaning.
Though we all know about 9/11 and still continue to learn more about the events of that day, time has created disconnect, or more aptly, a block for us. Over the past five years, our recollection of how we felt and what we thought on that morning has faded with time.
Go back and relive in your mind what happened to you that morning. Where you were when you first realized what was happening? Watch a recording of a news broadcast from that morning. Remember the shock of seeing smoke pour out of one the towers, only to helplessly watch as a second passenger airliner flew into the second tower right before your eyes.
Recall the shock that something like this could happen here in America. Bear in mind the outrage at seeing the Pentagon burning and the sadness when the towers tumbled down. Recall the shock that something like this could happen here in America.
As much as Pearl Harbor, the Kennedy assassination, or the fall of the Berlin Wall affected generations before ours, know that 9/11 was the turning point of our generation. An event like 9/11 has the potential to shape many more future generations.
Before 9/11, terrorists bombed our embassies in East Africa and attacked the USS Cole and we let them get away with it, closing our eyes to reality and hoping the problem would just go away.
Finally after 9/11, we were all able to stand together and say to the violent extremists: no more. Don't forget that the war to prevent another 9/11 goes on today. We have successfully thwarted others attacks on US soil and around the world over the past five years. Recently, a plan to bomb several transatlantic passenger flights was foiled. We should not and cannot let ourselves be a victim of our success.
Some would mistakenly say that we are now safe; do not heed this call; it is as alluring and deadly as the call of the Sirens. It will lead America to ruin. The War on Terror continues and all Americans must remain committed because our enemy is committed to our deaths and remains so.
So this year when the attacks of 9/11 are commemorated, do not just walk by or shrug it off as something that is in the history books that is of no concern to you. Stop and reflect.
If we ever forget, I fear what the cost might be.
Though we all know about 9/11 and still continue to learn more about the events of that day, time has created disconnect, or more aptly, a block for us. Over the past five years, our recollection of how we felt and what we thought on that morning has faded with time.
Go back and relive in your mind what happened to you that morning. Where you were when you first realized what was happening? Watch a recording of a news broadcast from that morning. Remember the shock of seeing smoke pour out of one the towers, only to helplessly watch as a second passenger airliner flew into the second tower right before your eyes.
Recall the shock that something like this could happen here in America. Bear in mind the outrage at seeing the Pentagon burning and the sadness when the towers tumbled down. Recall the shock that something like this could happen here in America.
As much as Pearl Harbor, the Kennedy assassination, or the fall of the Berlin Wall affected generations before ours, know that 9/11 was the turning point of our generation. An event like 9/11 has the potential to shape many more future generations.
Before 9/11, terrorists bombed our embassies in East Africa and attacked the USS Cole and we let them get away with it, closing our eyes to reality and hoping the problem would just go away.
Finally after 9/11, we were all able to stand together and say to the violent extremists: no more. Don't forget that the war to prevent another 9/11 goes on today. We have successfully thwarted others attacks on US soil and around the world over the past five years. Recently, a plan to bomb several transatlantic passenger flights was foiled. We should not and cannot let ourselves be a victim of our success.
Some would mistakenly say that we are now safe; do not heed this call; it is as alluring and deadly as the call of the Sirens. It will lead America to ruin. The War on Terror continues and all Americans must remain committed because our enemy is committed to our deaths and remains so.
So this year when the attacks of 9/11 are commemorated, do not just walk by or shrug it off as something that is in the history books that is of no concern to you. Stop and reflect.
If we ever forget, I fear what the cost might be.