Fourteen Years Ago . . .

 

shutterstock_20814040Fourteen years on, the term “9/11” has, for many, lost some of its resonance. I do not endorse wallowing in 9/11 memories, but neither can we forget the horrific violence that jolted us into awareness of the threat we faced – and still face today. On September 11, 2004, the third anniversary of the attack, National Review Online published a piece in which I chronicled the experiences of one family, the Sullivans, who lost a loved one that morning. A sample:

Patrick Sullivan was 32 years old when he was killed. A Brooklyn native and graduate of Georgetown, he was one of the 658 employees at Cantor Fitzgerald, the securities firm, who were trapped on the upper floors of the World Trade Center’s north tower when it came crashing down. Not even a trace of his body was ever found. Had it not been for some odd twists of fate, his brothers Greg, who today is 38, and Jerry, 37, might have died that day with him.

Please read the whole thing, then come back here and share your own thoughts and memories on what was this generation’s Pearl Harbor.

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  1. Brian Wyneken Member
    Brian Wyneken
    @BrianWyneken

    I used to think about 9/11 every day. Sometime, after the 2nd or 3rd deployment, I thought of it less often. Now, retired, to think of it on 11 September, perhaps even to wallow a bit, is certainly not too much. That little bit sustains some of the resonance.

    I had a friend who I was certain had perished. He was in the first tower struck, just a few floors below the point of impact. He made it out (one of many miraculous stories), and three weeks later was sitting search and rescue alert missions in the Middle East. Today, he conducts tours at Ground Zero and tells his story to tourists. It’s not one bit self aggrandizement, he is emphatically not that type. He thinks of 9/11 every day, and I wonder if he will ever have the luxury of forgetting, even a little bit.

    • #1
  2. Patrickb63 Coolidge
    Patrickb63
    @Patrickb63

    Jack, I wish 09/11 truly was this generation’s Pearl Harbor. But unfortunately I think we’ve forgotten the lessons.  Thanks for the history.

    • #2
  3. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    My son is a United States Marine with a ribbon on his chest that indicates he enlisted in a time of war. On September 11, 2001 that Marine was sitting in his kindergarten classroom, blissfully unaware of the carnage of that day.

    Fourteen years later and what do we have? A nation that has twice elected a man hell-bent on destroying the defense capabilities of the United States, and to flood her shores with the criminal outcasts of the poorest nations on earth. He (and the people who elected him) have sown chaos at home and abroad in the the name of peace, but in reality, in the pursuit of power and revenge for past sins real and imagined.

    If this was this generation’s Pearl Harbor, we should all be ashamed of the results.

    • #3
  4. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    Patrickb63:Jack, I wish 09/11 truly was this generation’s Pearl Harbor. But unfortunately I think we’ve forgotten the lessons. Thanks for the history.

    Four years after Pearl Harbor, we had utterly defeated the enemy.

    It’s now 14 years since 9/11 and at best we’re in an uneasy holding action.  To extend the Pacific war metaphor, we’re maybe late stage Guadalcanal?

    Get back to me when we’ve used nukes to end it.

    • #4
  5. Jack Dunphy Member
    Jack Dunphy
    @JackDunphy

    EJHill:My son is a United States Marine with a ribbon on his chest that indicates he enlisted in a time of war. On September 11, 2001 that Marine was sitting in his kindergarten classroom, blissfully unaware of the carnage of that day.

    Fourteen years later and what do we have? A nation that has twice elected a man hell-bent on destroying the defense capabilities of the United States, and to flood her shores with the criminal outcasts of the poorest nations on earth. He (and the people who elected him) have sown chaos at home and abroad in the the name of peace, but in reality, in the pursuit of power and revenge for past sins real and imagined.

    If this was this generation’s Pearl Harbor, we should all be ashamed of the results.

    Amen.

    • #5
  6. Kay of MT Inactive
    Kay of MT
    @KayofMT

    Jack, don’t know how this got past me on the 11th. Very touching story and thank you for it.

    • #6
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