What are we supposed to remember about 9/11?

Great question!! What does remembering horror, in and of itself, do? I’ve come to believe the “Never again” line about the Holocaust has been rendered meaningless by the multiplicity of genocides since then. I have no idea what the “lesson” of 9/11 is or should be unless, like the many stories from the Holocaust, it is that there are many people who do bad things in the world and many people who act heroically in response.

I’ve never seen the footage of the towers collapsing. Or people jumping. Or the carnage after. Or the cleanup. Or the rebuilding.

To me, “Never Forget” means never let go of the visceral reaction you had to the World Trade Center buildings falling. I still have that. I’m so incredulous that such a heinous act happened on American soil that I won’t watch it happen.

“Never forget.”
When I think of the WTC 9–11, I think of all those lives lost, and all the people that mourned them. The horror. The disbelief. One minute you’re [your loved one is] on top of the world, the next, death and despair. I’m glad that I still can’t wrap my mind around 911. It’s catastrophic in my mind and in reality.

@ibstubro To me, “Never Forget” means never let go of the visceral reaction you had to the World Trade Center buildings falling. Interesting. I never think of it that way. It’s interesting that people might be interpreting this line in very different ways.

@janbb Lesson. Perfect word. I couldn’t come up with it for my Q.

I don’t know. I remember event like this

And this is how I remember it.

We are involved in a war that has gone on a long, long time. Many are losing their resolve, and forgetting how this began.

^^What? A resolve to do our best to prevent madmen from running planes into our skyscrapers without becoming a fucking police state, or a resolve to continue fighting massive ground wars we got into because of invented WMDs by a lying dipshit of a leader?

Rrmember that there is no limit to the insults which can be heaped upon a frightened population.

that all muslims are terrorists and should be gassed~

Fascinating. I wonder if answers are this varied regarding the same question for the Holocaust?

Thanks everyone for your answers.

@filmfann I too am curious about your answer. So, you are saying we need to remember to keep fighting?

@stanleybmanly Are you talking about the bad way the Muslims have been treated after 9/11?

@janbb: That is the best and possibly the weariest thing I have ever read about 9/11. We wave our arms about and cry slogans and it really never seems to end.

Of course I’ll remember it, but not with the patriotic fervor I see so many (not necessarily here) posting. How are we supposed to remember it? Good question. I prefer to remember it as I re bear it, not how someone says I’m supposed to remember it.

Ack! Weird autocorrect. Should read ”...as I remember it.”

I am saying that we didn’t start this, and if we stop now we will be a target of similar events. We need the stones to see this through. If we don’t have them, we should never have gone to war, and just allowed and accepted the occasional acts of violence and death that were heaped upon us.

Also, don’t add Iraq to this. That was W’s unnecessary choice.

First and foremost, @JLeslie, “Never forget” means never forget the lives lost, and the horror those people endured, to me.

Empathy.

No one can tell another what this day means to them. It is what it is. I never think about this day as anything but an event that proved how ignorant and gullible people really are. A few thousand lives are nothing compared to the millions that have been lost in the aftermath. Today I will roll my eyes a lot and remember why religion is a disease and so called patriotism is just a way to keep us divided from each other. Today I remember that I am a citizen of earth and to call out this one tragedy is to belittle the human tragedy that occurs everyday.

@ibstubro Not to me.

Thsi is the post I just wrote on FB:

“Let’s “never forget” by not allowing bigotry, racism, and xenophobia to take over our country.”

Other than that, I’m with @tinyfaery and would prefer to ignore all the pictures, the flag waving and the memorials. I was in New Jersey, my son had just started NYU, I don’t need reminders.

I choose to remember the victims, rather than the perpetrators or the ensuing war.
I admit to not reading much of the responses to this question. Maybe even the details.

When I think of 9/11 I have a mental of people running down stairs, frantically, panicked.
Human bodies throwing themselves out of windows 100’s of stories up.
Looking out the window, seeing the plane, and thinking, for a split second, “This can’t happen. It’s a dream, a flash-back, or a joke.” Then knowing “I’m dead now.”

What’s worse? Bypassing a woman I know I can easily help, or holding up the 100 people I would block from passing in the minute I spent to help.

9/11 made an impression on me that’s not light. I don’t want it to be. It’s my Pearl Harbor. Defines my foreign relations opinion, but in a considered way.

@Itstubro I’m not arguing here, the whole point of this Q was I was curious what people think when they think never forget, or as my friend said, we have to remember, so I don’t see any reason to argue with anyone’s opinion.

What I understand from your answer is you think of it similar to a “moment of silence” for the dead. Remembering those who suffered and died. Plus, you talked about your memories of that day, what you “witnessed” even if it was witnessed via the television. I also talked about my memories regarding that day on another Q, I have a lot of memories from that day (you named some of the same ones I have) and even many days later I have memories of terrible events that continues to happen related to the towers falling. But, remembering the horror of it isn’t what I relate to “never forgetting.” I think of what is the “lesson” from the event as @janbb put it. I’d rather rid my mind of the details I think. Similar to how I don’t watch all the holocaust stuff, I know enough about how terrible it is, I don’t need to know more.

But, as I said, I’m not trying to change how you think of it, I find all the answers here interesting. It’s a lesson for me (again) to never assume, and how communication is so complicated.

People are sheep and they post these things to prove that they care.

That Uncle Sam never even so much asked for an apology from the good ol’ friends the Saudis because most of those who hijacked the jets came from their nation.

@jonsblond Are you referring to the posters on this thread? You don’t think that these posts are genuinely heartfelt? Is “sheep” what you think of the people here? That this is a way for people like Janb and others to simply put on a pretense?

Anyone who is interested I wrote a Q about the Holocaust in a similar vein.

I’m speaking about the posts on facebook today. @JLeslie mentioned this in the details. I agree with @janbb. Facebook was nothing but pics of the towers, some graphic. The sheep filled our feeds with graphic reminders.

@JLeslie I’m talking about the across the board reaction to 9/11 including the required villification of Muslims, the whole unwieldy and hastily thrown together patently stupid security regime, the otherwise impossible scenario of 2 acknowledged oil barons’ (Bush/Cheney) naked attempt to plunder Iraq. None of it would have been possible minus “the chicken with its head cut off” general panic.

I wasn’t intending to argue, either, @JLeslie.
Just expounding. Adding emphasis.

^^I didn’t feel you were arguing. I just wanted to be sure I didn’t come across argumentative. I hope you check out my other Q about remembering the holocaust. Maybe the two events are very different to some people, and “remembering” has different meanings for each event. I see them as the same, except that I’m really not sure what I should know about 9/11 to prevent it from happening again?

We. Are. Good. @JLeslie.

I don’t feel qualified to comment on The Holocaust. I’m not German or Jewish, and everything I know about The Holocaust has been filtered through 30–50 years of media.
Yes, yes, I understand that you’re looking for perspective from all ages and backgrounds. Quit harping. I’ll go take a look.
:-)

@Ibstubro I’ve never really thought about considering it from the German perspective. You mean a German person today? That’s interesting too. Thanks for all your answers.

Yes, a German person today.
Would you want to know your family’s role during the war, and would it be relevant to your life? I mean, as an American, if my ancestors owned slaves, how does that affect me, if at all? We’re proud to be distant relatives of Ben Franklin. So should we be equally shamed that other family members were some of the largest slave holders in this area?
I often wonder how Germany can be so successful and bear the relatively recent burden of having hosted the Holocaust. It seems like it would be such a heavy weight on the collective psyche.

We recently sold 24 long guns at auction. In the post 9–11 atmosphere, I wanted to sell them all in order, first off. I considered how easy it would be for someone to come in with a pocket full of ordinance and just start shooting into the packed room, randomly.
We should remember, first and foremost, that 9–11 was probably the most successful terrorist action in modern history. It changed the fundamental fabric of American life.

@ibstubro All I can say is as a Jewish person I don’t think anything about young Germans today and whether their families were Nazis. Unless, they too are neo-Nazis. I don’t hold someone accountable for their father’s sins so to speak.

I had an uncle, from Holland who was a young boy in occupied Holland during WWII. He was about 10. Just for “fun” some German soldiers backed him against a wall and pretended like they were going to shoot him. He was absolutely terrified. The soldiers thought it was great fun.

He HATES everything German. I once mentioned that his last name, Vogler, is German. I thought…OMG. I thought….he just almost lost it. He just lost it.