“Today, September 11, 2026, marks the 25th anniversary of an attack that changed the course of this country, and the lives of everyone who lived through it. For those who remember 9/11, it is more than a historical moment. It is a collection of places, people, emotions, and stories. Stories that shaped a generation and continue to shape the world we live in.
Yet, for those who grew up after, 9/11 exists only as history: a date in a textbook, a unit in a classroom.
Growing up, I was always struck by the question “Where were you on 9/11?” — how everyone had an answer, and how different those answers were. Those stories carried something a textbook never could: the fear, the shock, the disbelief that a country could feel it all at once.
That is why these stories matter, for two reasons. For those of us born after 2001, they are the closest thing we have to understanding what that day actually felt like. And for those who lived it, telling the story again—as hard as that can be—keeps the memory alive and a shared cultural touchstone.
Today, Maureen has humbly shared her own account of that day. Her piece is raw and personal, and it carries one message above all: we must not forget.” – L. Moassessi
25 Years Ago (A Remembrance for 9/11)
Maureen McCarthy
25 years ago, the Washington sky dawned a shocking crystal blue,
teasing late summer into early fall.
25 years ago, a meeting started in a secure facility two floors underground,
Talks with old friends and close colleagues, allies from past wars,
And those yet to come.
25 years ago, we paused at 8:46, then again at 9:03.
Shook in disbelief at 9:37 and cried at 10:03.
25 years ago, we followed emergency procedures that didn’t exist,
Bracing for the next wave that didn’t come.
25 years ago, I finally took a breath in the disquiet air of a silent city,
And heard a lizard scaling a wall once hostile to nature.
A city empty of panicked visitors, fleeing workers, and the relentless din of a clamoring capital.
Empty, save a lone APC on patrol on Independence Ave.
25 years ago, I watched a darkened sky hang over the river,
Plumes of smoke and ash and human flesh billowing from the gutted fortress
Built to protect us from harm.
25 years ago, or was it yesterday?
I felt fear and rage and resolve,
And the untethering from the story we had told ourselves
About being safe and secure and strong.
25 years ago, the world I knew at dawn was gone by noon.
Skies empty. Hearts broken. Dreams shattered. Bodies counted.
25 years ago, I learned that hate poisons the hater and the hated equally,
But not forever.
25 years ago, the towers fell, shattering our window on the world.
And yet, above a field in Pennsylvania, passengers on Flight 93
Fought back.
25 years ago, I learned that buildings are fragile
And people are strong.
25 years on, I remember,
Because forgetting is impossible
Because forgetting steals history from those who weren’t born,
25 years ago.