As previously observed mutiple times here around this time of year, I never quite understand why certain anniversaires take on more meaning than others. I’m not sure why the 20th anniversary of the events of September 11, 2001 should be any more significant than the 19th or the 14th or the 6th, other than to underscore that we like to group years in tidy sets of ten.
The sentiments I’ve expressed about the specifics of that day remain unchanged. I still remember it all pretty vividly. I don’t need to visit a museum or view a documentary to bring it all back. I’m relatively certain anyone who was in Manhattan (and/or Washington D.C. and Shanksville, PA) that day feels the same.
This all said, when viewed through the prism of the pandemic, as I noted last year, the legacy of September 11th seems a bit muted. As far as tragedies go, while COVID-19 lacks the spectacle of September 11th, its death-toll dwarfs Al Qaeda’s best efforts by leaps and bounds (not that it’s a competition). Moreover, given the tumult currently unfurling in the wake of the U.S. forces’ departure from Afghanistan, the notion that said country may soon revert to just as much of a safe haven for those who’d seek to harm us as it was in September of 2001 is a pretty bitter pill. But lest this get into Biden-bashing, let’s remember that it was George W. Bush who put us there, only later to deceptively use September 11th as a rationale for invading Iraq. It was on Obama’s watch that we finally got Osama Bin Laden. As for Trump, let’s remember that he released 5,000 Taliban prisoners and wanted to invite their leaders to Camp David, so don’t even go there.
Back here in New York, while my recollections of September 11th and its aftermath are, once again, fairly indelible, it no longer feels like it happened yesterday. I was a newlywed on September 11th, and we’d only been home from our honeymoon for two days by that fateful morning. We moved apartments – albeit only three blocks away – in 2002. My first child was born in 2004, followed by a second in 2006, and my life took on a whole different trajectory. I’ve held five different jobs since September of 2001. Life was markedly different than it is today on both a personal level and on a grander scale. It’s a different era.
I cannot help wondering, however, if anything has been learned.
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