We Will Always Remember

Good morning.

There are certain days of the calendar that have special meaning. September 11 is certainly one.

Twenty-five years ago today, at 7:46 a.m. our time, the world changed and Americans’ lives would never be the same. We were attacked and thousands of lives were lost.

It was a Tuesday and I was working in the adult emergency department. There was a TV on in the charting room in the back. I heard the news that a plane had struck one of the twin towers in New York. I assumed it was an accidental crash but as I was watching the TV for updates the news came across that the second tower had been hit. That’s when the realization struck me that this was no accident. The world got very quiet while the gravity of an attack on U.S. soil settled in. The events and stories that have unfolded since have changed our country forever.

Even a quarter of a century later, I still get a lump in my throat thinking about the events of Sept. 11, 2001, the people who died that day while just going about a normal Tuesday and the responders who died doing their jobs, putting others ahead of themselves. I don’t think that feeling will ever go away for me. We must NEVER forget those who were lost to this terrorist attack.

I love this Marshall Ramsey cartoon he published shortly after 9/11. It concisely and artistically sums up how we all felt after the attack. No matter who we were, where we lived or what we believed in, we were ALL Americans. The sense of unity across our country was inspiring. We could use a little of that right now, too.

Today, I ask all of you to take a moment to remember 9/11. We hope and pray such a tragedy never befalls us again.