Last Tuesday, 175 Conde Nast employees made their way into One World Trade Center, the building formerly known as the Freedom Tower.
It was a day that was more than 13 years in the making.
The 1,776-foot-tall skyscraper – the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere – is the highlight of the new World Trade Center, built in the exact spot where almost 3,000 people lost their lives during the Sep. 11th terrorist attacks.
It is worrisome that not even a decade and a half after the horrific attacks, people seem to already be forgetting about what may be the darkest day in American history.
Some people, especially those who were either young kids or not yet born during the attack, have begun to question whether or not 9/11 still holds any meaning today. Online message boards are filled with comments from people saying that horrific day doesn’t matter. “half of these ppl didn’t know anyone who died on 9/11 so why should they even care,” commented one user on answers.yahoo.com
A Timber Creek teacher recently had his students discuss in class whether we should continue to dwell on the attack.
But how can we ever forget it? Forget the towers that crumbled to the ground? The thousands of innocent lives lost? The children who lost their parents and the parents who lost their children? No. The moment we turn our backs to the past, it will repeat itself.
I recently had the chance to visit the 9/11 memorial museum in New York, built directly underneath where the towers once stood. Walking through the museum, watching videos of that day, and staring at all of the faces of those who perished, I was truly amazed that anyone, anywhere, could truly believe that this event means nothing to the world today.
13 years later, we are still dealing with the fallout from the attack. U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan, fighting the War on Terror, and the rebuilding effort continues to this day in New York City. Construction on the World Trade Center is expected to last another four years.
How can our nation already start to disregard the significance of this day when the rebuilding effort is still so far from completion?
Naturally, it is difficult for people to continue to relate to something as time passes. What once seemed unfathomable now seems almost predictable.
But we cannot forget what happened. We must remember what happened and how we reconciled, as a reminder of how strong this country is, and how our spirit will never be broken.