Everyone has something singed into their memory from the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The eerie images of horrified civilians emerging from a tsunami of dust and debris, nightmarish footage of the Twin Towers engulfed in billowing smoke, three New York City firefighters raising the American flag at Ground Zero, the ominous black border surrounding the titleless Sept. 14 cover of TIME Magazine, conveying through a single photo the catastrophe that would shift the course of history.
It was a day that sent shockwaves through every household; one where grief and resolve and solidarity bound a nation together inextricably. It was a day that caused author David Levithan to later write, in a post-9/11 book published in 2009, “what separates us from the animals, what separates us from the chaos, is our ability to mourn people we’ve never met.”
It’s been 12 years since four passenger airliners were hijacked for suicide attacks by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists. Nearly 3,000 people died, and 9/11 was the deadliest incident for firefighters in the history of the United States. It took 3.1 million hours of labor to clean up 1.8 million tons of debris at Ground Zero in Manhattan, costing a total of $750 million, according to statistics published by CNN.
On May 2, 2011, a team of Navy SEALS raided Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, killing the figure who founded al-Qaeda, declared war on the United States and claimed responsibility for the 9/11 attacks.
The final component of the spire topping One World Trade Center – a 104-story edifice standing 1,776-feet tall in the northwest corner of the same site previously occupied by the Twin Towers – was installed May 10, making the skyscraper the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. The entire structure is expected to be completed in early 2014.
The nation remains forever changed, yet tragedy begot stories of resilience and hope. There was controversy and spite. There was reflection and growth. There was a sense of nationalism, a dogged championing of freedom. There was resolve. There was healing.
And while that day of infamy resurfaces “as a time of tragedy, fear, grief and loss,” as Levithan notes, “less easy to remember – and even harder to convey – is that it was amazing not just for the depth of that loss, but also for the heights of humanity that occurred. The kindness. The feeling of community. The deepening of love and friendship. It was a depressing time, for sure – but it was also an inspiring time.”
Like every other community, that “time” in South County was something that impacted our priorities, political views, thoughts, outlook and convictions.
As the 12th anniversary of 9/11 approaches Wednesday, we take time to remember what happened through photos and stories.
“We are better together, than we are apart.”
-A response from Frank Jensen, when asked by the Dispatch what he hopes America would learn from 9/11. Jensen, a former San Martin resident, lost his wife Suzanne when the plane she was on, American Airlines flight 77, was hijacked by terrorists and flown into the Pentagon during the 9/11 attacks. Suzanne was 42.
