Like everyone else who was of an aware age in 2001, the shock, impact, and immense after-effects of this date continue to resonate. Just as, I imagine, December 7 resonates for those in a previous generation.

I remember the person who drew my attention to what was happening as I left a classroom; I remember where I was watching a TV as the second tower was hit. I remember the panic of needing to talk to everyone I knew in lower Manhattan, and I remember the paralyzing shock that lasted days.

As you do, too.

Our world doesn’t feel much safer, as much as it has changed our atmosphere of daily living. I’m not at all convinced that we have changed the conditions which brought about the hostilities against the U.S. and all we do to stick our fingers in the eyes of nations across the globe. The U.S. has certainly become a weaker force in the world with our current leadership in the White House and the Capitol; less respect from other countries, less belief in our ability to make anything happen, as these last years have been all about idle threats, departing from alliances, fundamentally having carrot-top’s words disrespected or ignored as mere bluster from a fool. Perhaps that has made us less a threat, I don’t know.

A day of remembering lies ahead.