This time of year, it seems almost de rigueur to offer reflections on the ignominy that occurred on September 11, 2001, and even more so on this 20th anniversary. Most of us have memories frozen in our mind’s eye of where we were and what we thought that day. To dredge up those memories seems somewhat narcissistic, unless we can also share some shred of something more than just a “never forget” mantra. But how do we and our compatriots change for the better because of what happened to our country that day?

Here are some of my thoughts and hopes for our future.

I worry that it may be too late for reflections, as this past Saturday was replete with mournful memorials and other remembrances. Any more may seem to be “too much.” Is today’s 24-hour news cycle now filled with other current topical events and is 9/11 simply the past to be dredged up only on its anniversary? For the most part, the answer is "yes." Our memories will not fade but our patience with such “reflections” probably does. Therefore, let me quickly — and for the last time this cycle — offer more than just remembrances, but some thoughts about what we have done and what more we could do to honor those who perished that day.

Sitting on the edge of my hotel bed, I was mesmerized for nearly seven hours watching events unfold on September 11, 2001. My trip to Istanbul had taken me some 5,000 miles distant from New York City, but the unfolding tragedy was displayed in real time on my room's television and I was transfixed.

Some offer comparisons of 9/11 with January 6, 2021, or April 19, 1995, or even November 22, 1963. I don’t agree. 9/11 stands out as a singular event more like December 7, 1941, than any other. After both, our sense of patriotism was enhanced and actionable as so many of our fellow citizens almost immediately volunteered for military service to combat the exposed threat of a foreign “enemy.” And that was a good sign. But the unconscionable act of starting a foreign war in Iraq, one that was unprovoked and unjustified, was a bad sign. Human beings seem to fall victim to the herd mentality in reaction to events or presumed threats. That mentality exists to this day in the form of our fellow citizens embracing unfounded conspiracy theories.

An example is the plea for wider COVID vaccination and its attendant vitriol.

Maybe such mistrust of a public health step encouraged by nearly every member of the medical establishment is spurred by the numerous TV advertisements I see for prescription and nonprescription medications, as the ad’s actors describe the life-threatening diseases and the life-saving result from taking their brand of medicine. Somewhat surreptitiously, a lower screen crawl and a voice over intones all the toxic side effects of taking such medications, a jarring disconnect from the always happy vignettes playing out on-screen.

If we can nevertheless convince consumers via TV ads to get a prescription for heart disease, blood clots or — heaven forbid — the heartbreak of psoriasis, why can’t we convince our fellow citizens to avoid hospitalization or death by taking the COVID vaccination?

My plea for all of you is to think of our country’s greater good and less of the factors of internal strife that seem to rouse our suspicions and spur actions like those taken January 6, 2021. We are better than that as a country. The greater good has helped us all for many years and will, in my opinion, continue to do so.

Lastly a personal recollection, one seemingly prescient: My youngest son was en route to the annual National Boy Scout Jamboree in August of 2001. One of the places his Boy Scout troop visited on their way to the Jamboree was New York City and its environs. On a day in late August, they happened to visit Governor’s Island in the New York harbor. A picture was taken of all the boys holding their troop flag with lower Manhattan in the background, with the twin towers of the World Trade Center prominent. Their troop number, prominently displayed on their flag, was 911.

What are your remembrances?

9/11 remembrances

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