The anniversary of September 11, 2001 will continue to bring memories for most. However, as we remember today, it is noteworthy that those born on that date have achieved "drinking age." The ages of 16, 18, and 21 carry significance in America, with each representing, in its own way, a progression toward adulthood. I seem to attach more significance to 21 than the statisticians; data on the number of Americans under 21 is hard to find. However, the Kaiser Family Foundation notes that almost 24% of Americans are under 19. Another 9% are under 25 (that is 33% total, a third).
As we mark twenty-one years since September 11, 2001, something close to one-third of us don't remember a time when boarding an airplane did not involve a security checkpoint. Much has changed in the last two decades, and air travel has seen notable change. There was a time when it was not uncommon for the flight deck door to open during a flight. Back then, the crew might even mingle with the passengers. As a young passenger, I recall being invited to the flight deck for a visit. Reinforced cockpit doors were among the earliest September 11 reactions. Many more followed.
People used to gather at a flight departure gate to say their goodbyes. There was no security checkpoint, x-ray machine, or boarding pass/identification check. Everyone was free to wander the concourse(s), to linger about the gates, and boarding passes were only checked at the aircraft or jetway door. In retrospect, it seems that the gate waiting areas are more crowded today than ever. That seems anachronistic to the seemingly smaller population now allowed through security and into the concourses and gate areas.
Carry-on baggage used to be simply accepted. Certainly, there were prohibitions on some things. But as National Public Radio noted a year ago, "The FAA allowed knives of up to 4 inches in length on board an aircraft." There was no prohibition on the blades used by "the people that did something" on September 11, 2001. A member of Congress somewhat surprisingly made that reference to the attacks in comments back in 2019 (“CAIR was founded after 9/11, because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties.”) Those "some people" were terrorists and what they did was mayhem and murder of ordinary civilians that were merely going about their daily lives.
It was not just knives in carry-ons. In the days prior to September 11, 2001, I had seen people carry things like hammers, screwdrivers, power drills, and even circular saws onto airplanes. A friend swears he saw someone bring a leaf-blower, with fuel, but I cannot testify to that. I am somewhat doubtful as leaf blowers did not make the list of 474 items in carry-on baggage (gasoline made the list, it's a "no"). I recall being on a flight that included many who had just attended a baseball game and were returning home. At least 20 of them had souvenir bats they placed in the overhead bins. That was a different age.
Some of us are old enough to remember when the security of air travel was even more relaxed. Until the 1960s and 1970s, it had not really occurred to people to hijack aircraft. CNN notes that it was "in the early 1970s when an epidemic of airline “skyjackings” dominated the news." And that changed us. A modicum of security in terms of baggage search and metal detectors at major airports followed and largely put an end to that. Flight crews were trained to cooperate with highjackers, the goal being a safe negotiated outcome. But, the thought of a terrorist using a plane full of people as a weapon had not yet occurred to us back in the twentieth century.
"Some people" indeed did something. September 11, 2001, is the headline of WorldAtlas' "Worst Terrorist Attacks in History." It notes that those miscreants "killed approximately 2,996 people, injured more than 6,000, and destroyed property and infrastructure worth more than $10 billion." It is listed as the number 1 event. A few less, 2,390, died in the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 ("a day that will live in infamy"). Perhaps to the modern age, it is September 11 that will live in infamy?
We tend to remember the World Trade Center. It was first in the sequence of events. It was tragic, unbelievable, and shocking. But, we must strive to remember that there were four planes hijacked that morning, and only two struck New York (about 08:45 and 09:03). A third was driven into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just outside the nation's capital (09:37). A fourth would dive into a field in Pennsylvania about 10:00 that morning (by then, the plans of the hijackers had been discerned and various passengers ceased cooperating and fought back against the coward hijackers). Though we tend to remember the collapsing towers, there was death, destruction, and mayhem in many locations.
And we remember September 11, 2001. In 2021, the Brookings Institute marked the twentieth remembrance with a survey. The results support how indelibly marked those events are for those of us who were ten years and older at the time:
"93% of Americans ages 30 and above said they can remember exactly where they were or what they were doing the moment they learned of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001."
I was sitting at my desk working on a stack of medical records that were as jumbled, disorganized, and redundant as any I had ever seen (about 08:45, ET). It was a frustrating endeavor, sifting for relevance in a swamp of paper. An attorney came down the hall and said that her husband had told her of a plane hitting a building hundreds of miles north (New York) and that she was going home for the day. The import was lost on me; I returned to my records. Not until the second plane struck (about 9:00) did I begin to suspect we were witnessing a world-changing event. The day worsened, and the certainty grew. It took a while for me to absorb it. It just seemed so implausible.
The world largely stopped that morning. We turned to the news for their reporting, but there was little news and so broadcasts were full of conjecture and prognostication. There were theories, there were accusations, and there were experts. The FAA began shutting down American airspace. All of it. Every plane was brought in for a landing. Thousands of people were diverted from their day, scared, scarred, and surprised. And, there were great signs of humanity as well. There were heroes galore that day, in the sky, in the response, in the humanity. We were so united, so concerned, and so disconcerted.
We declared war on terror after September 11, 2001. The "Costs of War project at Brown University" estimates that the "20 years of post-9/11 wars have cost the U.S. an estimated $8 trillion and have killed more than 900,000 people." Those are "direct deaths," and do not strive to account for "the many indirect deaths the war on terror has caused by way of disease, displacement, and loss of access to food or clean drinking water." Statista says 7,075 Americans have died in the war on terror. Thus, American casualties of the September 11, 2001 attacks and reactions total well over ten thousand. Those "people that did something" started a war that led to massive implications globally.
It may be fairly said that "some people did something," twenty-one years ago. They are responsible for a vast amount of destruction and death. The world today is different. Unfortunately, without a historical perspective, those differences may be less than obvious to those who did not live through it. Certainly, there is a generation blessed to not know of that firsthand, but we must all strive to remember. We pause today to remember those fallen.
We should also pause each September 11 to remind the next generation of the perils of this world. The vast population that was too young to remember the world before September 11 cannot be allowed to forget the damage and destruction, the treachery and terrorism. With each passing day, the generations that lived through September 11 age, retire, and pass. The next generations must remember the threats that "some people" pose to our peace, prosperity, and community. They are still out there, and our safety lies in our remembrance, preparedness, and vigilance.
