In the coming days we will all read, see, and hear much about the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the United States of America. An attack that saw commercial airline jets flying into the two World Trade Center buildings in New York, ultimately reducing those infamous twin towers to rubble, and killing nearly 3,000 innocent civilians, including more than 400 brave first responders. In the months and years to follow some 1,400 more first responders died as a result of their exposure to the toxic dust created when those buildings collapsed.
The terrorists also used a third commercial jet to plow into the Pentagon, and the fourth didn’t make it to its intended target, instead crashing in a field in Pennsylvania.
That tragic morning took place 25 years ago, though for many of us who witnessed it on live television, it feels not nearly that long ago. A quarter century is a long time, and so there will be a large ceremony in New York marking the anniversary, or ‘traumaversary’ as I have seen it referred to, and news outlets will be running feature stories reliving that horrible day in history.
When I first saw the video replay of the first plane flying into the World Trade Center, it was difficult to believe what my eyes were seeing. My work day had just begun. I had been sipping coffee in my office while answering some email messages when the phone on my desk rang and a colleague told me to head up to the office of the president of our company. No reason was given, just get up there. Was something wrong? Did we have a major issue with a customer? Why am I being dragged up to the president’s office first thing on a Tuesday morning? When I walked into his office, it was filled with many of my colleagues, all with their eyes glued to the large (or at least large for the time) television that sat on a credenza at the end of the long boardroom table.
It had only happened moments before, and every news outlet was replaying the video over and over as they reported on the tragic event. Was it a horrible accident? How could a commercial jet slam into a high-rise building? Was it an act of terrorism? The questions were many in those first few minutes, but answers were few. What we did know was that we were witnessing a tragedy.
But then came the second plane, which I saw crash into the second tower, live on CNN, in front of my very own eyes. As I stood in the office watching that large television with my colleagues, the room was silent, everyone was frozen with fear of the unknown. One colleague quietly wept, and that was just the beginning of the horrors of that day.
As the morning moved along the non-stop media coverage continued, from CNN to NBC, to the CBC, BBC, and every news outlet on the planet. If it weren’t bad enough that we had seen two commercial airliners flown into the twin towers in New York City, roughly an hour after we had all seen those horrifying videos, one of the towers collapsed, floor upon floor crumbling to the New York streets below. A half-hour later the second tower collapsed as much of the world looked on through their television screens.
While many of us remember well the horrors of September 11, 2001, the more recent generations might have only heard stories, or seen video clips on Youtube.
That one morning in September 25 years ago changed the world forever.
The days and weeks following the September 11 attack were a scary time; nobody knew what might happen next, or just how much that one event might snowball into – some feared that WWIII was on our doorstep.
News stories were filled with references to the Taliban in Afghanistan, and terrorist organization Al-Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden. The ‘war on terror’ was beginning.
NATO allies including Canada jumped into action in support of the United States – this was of course long before the current president’s tariff and trade wars, constant insults to allies, threats to Canada’s sovereignty, and the renaming of Lake Ontario, to name just a few recent events with our neighbour and long-time ally to the south.
By October 2001, the United States and its allies had invaded Afghanistan, beginning a war that would ultimately last nearly 20 years.
The older I get, the more recognition of past horrors has become important to me, and I have come to have a greater appreciation for the generations before me that have always taken Remembrance Day seriously. Because we must as a society mark and remember important and sometimes tragic events in our history, in part so that we can collectively learn from those events for the generations to come.
One of my sons was born a couple of years before the 9/11 terrorist attack, and the other was born a couple of years after. The 9/11 attack has impacted both of their lives, and if we didn’t take some time to observe past tragedies like 9/11 my sons might never realize those impacts, or that the event even happened at all.
For two full days after the attacks virtually every airplane in North America was grounded; nobody was able to fly anywhere, which left many, including some of my own colleagues stranded wherever they happened to be on September 11. Some were close enough to rent a car and drive it to the Buffalo airport where they could be picked up by car, while others had to patiently wait until flights resumed. Once the planes started flying again, it was not easy to book a flight as everything was in a state of chaos as airlines attempted to catch up after thousands of flight cancellations.
Things certainly changed after 9/11. As a frequent visitor to the United States in my previous career (that very morning of September 11, 2001, I was planning meetings for my next trip to Arkansas, which was to have happened in mid-September of that year). My visits post 9/11 became an exercise in frustration as new measures were introduced in hopes of making air travel safer for everyone.
Long lines at security, removal of belts and shoes, changes to what could be in your carry-on luggage, more frequent inspections – it all added up to lengthy and frustrating lines, but for the most part we accepted it as part of the new normal, in the name of safety. The inconveniences, though irritating, and sometimes exhausting, were a small price to pay given the thousands of lives that had been lost on a Tuesday morning in September.
On September 11, the 25th anniversary of that tragic day will be observed around the world, including here in Meaford, where the Meaford Fire Department is inviting the public to attend a 9/11 Memorial Ceremony on Friday, September 11, 2026 at 10 a.m. at the Meaford Fire Hall.
