Our summer is rapidly coming to a close with Labor Day symbolically heralding its end. We also mark another year since our Nation was attacked on September 11, 2001, 23 years ago.
Each year on the anniversary of 9/11, Teller County comes together in Lions Park in the City of Woodland Park to remember and gather for a solemn ceremony. We remember the men, women, and children killed in the September 11, 2001, attacks to include the towers of the World Trade Center, the attack at the Pentagon, and the crash of United Airlines Flight 93 in Pennsylvania. We also remember our servicemen and women who fought to bring the attackers to justice and to preserve our freedom in what would become America’s longest war.
As we approach the 23rd anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the world is once again at war in nearly every corner of the planet. As the United States exerts influence in those places we should also understand that there are those who likewise will seek to influence us. Unfortunately, terrorism is alive and well in 2024 as evidenced recently in Israel. It has been a generation since those terrible events happened here and many Americans will be too busy to remember, going about their lives just like they did 23 years ago.
We must remember. We must honor those who died and stay focused and vigilant so that we do not become complacent. Our children and our grandchildren did not witness the events firsthand and look to us to tell the story and for leadership. Our generation now carries the burden of recounting the events of that day and our subsequent actions to our children and later generations. The lessons learned, the sacrifices of our first responders, the resulting 20-year war on terror and the costs paid by our brave servicemen and women all need a sharper focus now. Our failure to remember will result in our children becoming victims of similar events,
For those of us who were alive during the attacks, we all remember where we were and what we were doing. Some of us know those who died, some of us lost loved ones, and those of us in uniform began a journey of combat operations that would span 20 years. In the days following the attacks, every American suffered an emotional toll, nearly all felt sad, angry and many depressed. The experience was seared into our national consciousness and galvanized our resolve. Sacrifice and service mattered – they still do. In the 23 years since the attacks, we ought to remember the sacrifices of our first responders, the subsequent sacrifices of our military, and the impact that single day had on all of us in uniting us as one Nation.
So, this year as we remember the events of that terrible day 23 years ago, standing next to each other in ceremonies across this Nation, my hope and prayer would be that we somehow rekindle that sense of Nation we seem to have lost. Our compassion for strangers, the ability to show empathy for others, to reach out to those suffering loss, and a shared resolve to rise again, are all lessons from 9-11 that we ought to remember and teach our children.
This year remember – for the living owe it to those who can no longer speak to tell their stories and to teach our children.
*A Remembrance Ceremony will occur on Sept. 11 at 9 a.m. in Lions Park in Woodland Park. The public is invited to attend.
