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There are two words often used when reflecting on the 9/11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people 23 years ago this Wednesday: Never forget.
“Honor those lost, recapture the spirit of unity, be vigilant — Never Forget, Always Remember,” reads a passage on the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial.
For those of us who witnessed and experienced that horrific day in real time, there is little chance of ever forgetting. But as the country continues in this critical remembrance, a new generation has also taken up the mantle. Younger family members of victims and others who weren’t alive when the attacks happened, or were too young to remember, have nevertheless stepped up to continue the all-important recognition of what was taken — from their families, and from this country.
Callaway Treble, 18, has been reading names of victims at observance events for the last five years. His aunt Gabriela Silvina Waisman was killed on 9/11.
“We use the term ‘never forget’ for 9/11 all the time, but keeping that in practice and making sure we actually don’t forget that thousands of people died in an attack on our country, that’s extremely important,” Treble told the Associated Press recently. “So I feel like it’s our responsibility to do that.”
After 23 years of memorials, it might be possible for some of us to feel the panic from that day just a little less — to be lulled into the monotony of another anniversary without stopping to consider the ever-present depth of what these attacks took from our fellow Americans. We must not let time dull the memories of the victims, and we can look to these younger family members for inspiration.
Capri Yarosz, 17, never knew her uncle Christopher Michael Mozzillo, who was a New York firefighter.
“I think often about how, if you were still here, you would be one of my best friends, looking at colleges with me, getting me out of trouble with Mom and Dad, hanging out at the Jersey Shore,” Yarosz said at a memorial event last year, according to the AP.
She and her family should have had those moments with Mozzillo. They should not have had to remember him through a homemade baby book or by remarking “Chris would have loved that” on a frequent basis.
We all continue to owe 9/11 victims and their families remembrance and reflection, just as we should always be reflecting and learning from our country’s reaction to the attacks as well. Our government also continues to owe victims’ families more information and accountability relating to Saudi Arabia’s alleged involvement with 9/11 hijackers. Even 23 years later, there is still new information to uncover as we continue our remembrances.
Like this younger generation, we must recommit ourselves to two words: Never forget.
