Pat’s Bits and Pieces: The Anniversary of 9/11

Today is Wednesday, September 11, 2024, now 23 years since 9/11. This morning I noticed that Governor Gretchen Whitmer ordered all U.S. and Michigan flags across the state to be lowered to half-staff to honor and remember the victims of that day.
Friday, by the time you read this it will be just over 23 years since the terrible tragedy of the September attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Shanksville.
Now, everyone over the age of 33 will always remember the tragedy of September 11, 2001, the worst terrorist attack in the history of this country. The September 11 attacks were, in fact, the deadliest terrorist attacks in human history, causing the deaths of 2,996 people, including 2,977 victims and 19 hijackers.
“The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. On that morning, those 19 terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners scheduled to travel from the East Coast to California.”
Everyone over 75 remembers where they were, what they were doing and how they felt when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 23, 1973. It was truly the end of our age of innocence.
Only one is still alive to remember Pearl Harbor but those who were there for the 80th anniversary two years ago certainly remembered Pearl Harbor and the terrible losses we suffered there. It marked the beginning of World War II and brought people together for one purpose – to fight an attack on our way of life.
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese military launched a surprise attack on the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Since early 1941 the U.S. had been supplying Great Britain in its fight against the Nazis. It had also been pressuring Japan to halt its military expansion in Asia and the Pacific.
There is now just one crew member of the USS Arizona still living, 102-year-old Lou Conter of California. Two years ago, the few survivors who attended the 80th anniversary remembrance ceremony ranged in age from 97 to 103.
(information from Wikipedia)
We live in changing times, when others keep trying to divide us into factions. Kennedy’s death, Pearl Harbor and 9-11, all devastating historical events, have, instead of diminishing us, changed our way of life and made us stronger for it.
We need to remember this because since that September we have been united in our determination not to let what happened make us hide away. Despite the threat to our way of life, we all went on with our day-to-day lives.
It pulled us together and renewed our pride in being American. Just look around at the number of American Flags you see – on cars, in windows and in our yards.
We need to remain united today. .After all we are all, despite our differences, in color, in politics, in heritage, in religion – Americans living in the best country in the world.
I know 9/11 frightened us too. In the back of our minds, we knew we were no longer safe in this country. What happened in New York and Washington could happen anywhere – to anyone.
It scared us, but it also made us mad. It also made us determined that we would not be ashamed of who we are or intimidated by anyone.
Hopefully, most of us will be remembering where we were and how we felt when we heard the news, remembering those who lost their lives when a small group of anti-American terrorists decided to teach us a lesson.
Well, we learned one all right. We learned that if we all stick together, believe in our country and refuse to be intimidated by a bunch of suicidal losers; we will be stronger for it.
They wanted to undermine the American way of life. They just made us mad and determined to stop them from ever doing something like that again.
Big mistake.
Americans have a history of being at their very best when times are worst.