Remembering September 11th

I will never forget seeing what hate can destroy… I will never forget seeing what love can heal…”

        ~ Steve Maraboli, motivational speaker and author

We promised to never forget the events of September 11, 2001, but how much do you remember? The young children of 2001 are entering college this fall—and many have no idea what 9/11 signifies.

Here are some facts and bits of trivia to refresh your memory, and perhaps you can pass them along to the younger generation.

• The twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City collapsed after hijackers crashed two planes into them. A third plane was crashed into the Pentagon in Virginia, while a fourth plane crashed into a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. The official death count, including the 19 hijackers, was 2,996. More than 6,000 people were injured.
• It is believed that the fourth plane's target was to be either the Capitol Building or the White House in Washington, DC. Instead the plane crashed into the field as a result of the passengers on the flight fighting with the hijackers in an attempt to regain control of the plane.
• The hijackers were members of the Islamic militant group Al-Qaeda, founded by Osama bin Laden. The group’s stated reasons for the attack included US support of Israel, the presence of US troops in Saudi Arabia and sanctions against Iraq.
• The US government, led by then President George W. Bush, retaliated with a “War on Terror,” attacking the Taliban in Afghanistan, and searching out members and leaders of Al-Qaeda.
• Men, women, and children from more than 90 countries died in these attacks.
• Nearly 3,000 children lost a parent on 9/11.
• The rescue and recovery clean-up of the World Trade Center attack took 9 months. It took 99 days for the fires at this Ground Zero to be extinguished completely.
• 20 people were pulled alive from the rubble at the World Trade Center.
• Actor Steve Buscemi, a former firefighter in NYC, returned to work several 12-hour shifts alongside other firefighters to sift through the rubble from the World Trade Center.
• 343 firefighters, 60 police officers, and 8 emergency medical technicians and paramedics who responded to the World Trade Center were killed in the September 11 attacks.
• The Department of Homeland Security was formed after the attacks.
• Nearby, World Trade Center Building 7 collapsed hours later when debris from the North Tower building caused fires that weakened the structure.
• The USA PATRIOT Act was signed into law by President Bush on October 26, 2001. The title is a ten-letter acronym: Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism. 
• As of this writing, there are 48 movies based on the 9/11 attacks, and 37 documentaries.
• Prior to the 9/11 attacks, the most devastating attack on US soil was the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii in 1941. That event claimed more than 2,400 lives and resulted in our country declaring war.

Never forgetting means it's our job to make sure today's youth know what happened. Share these facts with some of your younger friends, and be available to talk about what 9/11 means to you.