The immediate few hours after the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers collapsed during the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were likely the darkest in the city’s history.
We must never forget the nearly 3,000 people murdered in the heinous attacks 24 years ago today, and in the years that followed due to conflict and disease related to recovery work at Ground Zero. But it’s easy to forget something else that permeated the city in the midst of the morning’s despair: Hope.
That hope came with the iron workers who showed up at Ground Zero to help cut through the mangled steel.
The countless blood donors and volunteers who converged upon the city, looking to help in any way they could.
The unfurling of American flags everywhere — from apartment windows and shops, to candlelight vigils mourning the lost, to the World Trade Center site itself.
A few days after the attacks, President George W. Bush came to Ground Zero to thank the army of first responders, workers and volunteers working on the recovery. New York did not vote for him in the previous year’s presidential election, but that no longer mattered; President Bush was there representing the entire country at a time when New York needed the country the most.
In the weeks that followed, Bush helped deliver billions of dollars in aid to assist with New York’s recovery from the terrorist attacks. The rebuilt skyline of Lower Manhattan we enjoy today, while never fully whole from what was lost on 9/11, was largely the result of that aid — given, we might add, without strings attached or demands of loyalty from the president.
The common expression heard today and on past anniversaries of 9/11 is “Never forget.” It’s a rallying cry for all of us not to let the horrors of that day 24 years ago fade from our memory. It’s a plea for all of us to always remember those heroes who gave of themselves that tens of thousands of other Americans might survive that day and live to see others.
But “never forget” ought to also apply to the spirit of resolve and unity that was forged in the weeks and months after 9/11, which naturally faded away as a semblance of normalcy returned to America and politics.
In his address to Congress on Sept. 20, 2001, President Bush asked Americans “to uphold the values of America and remember why so many have come here.”
“We’re in a fight for our principles, and our first responsibility is to live by them,” Bush added. “No one should be singled out for unfair treatment or unkind words because of their ethnic background or religious faith.”
Let us never forget 9/11, but also let us never forget that we are greater than any divisions we may have. We do not need tragedy to revive the sense of unity, resolve and humanity we once had. All we need to is live by our principles as Americans, not our differences.
