This past Sunday marked the 21st anniversary of the horrific terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, and the Pentagon, as well as flight 93 in Stonycreek Township.  These attacks have left a mark on the United States as well as the people affected for over two decades now, and is surely a wound that will never be healed.  Categorized with events such as the attacks on Pearl Harbor and the Oklahoma City bombing, the 9/11 attacks are one of the deadliest ever on American soil. 

On September 11th, 2001, four planes were hijacked, two of them were flown into the Twin Towers at the southern tip of Manhattan.  Another plane crashed into the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and the fourth plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after it had been rumored that the hijacked plane was also flying towards the nation’s capital.

On yet another year of the anniversary of the tragic event, thousands of people gathered in Lower Manhattan, Washington D.C., and the 9/11 memorial in Stonycreek Township, PA to commemorate the victims and all who were affected.  

Hundreds of people gathered at the reflective pools that mark the exact location of where the towers stood.  Each year people from all around the tri-state area who were affected by the tragedy come together for a memorial.  Bonita Mentis attended the memorial to speak about the event, which took her sister who was a 25 year old immigrant who had been working as an intern in World Trade Center One while in college.  She spoke while wearing a necklace with a photo of her deceased sister.

“The wounds are still fresh,” (AP) she spoke to a crowd that included Vice President Kamala Harris. “No matter how many years have passed, nobody can actually comprehend what happened.”

President Joe Biden was at the Pentagon on the anniversary where he spoke to a large crowd about the tragedy.  He spoke on a big promise to the crowd that the government would continue to try and root out the terrorist attacks that keep plaguing the United States and the world.  First Lady Jill Biden also spoke at the Flight 93 Memorial in Stonycreek Township, PA where a wreath laying ceremony was held.

“The most notable way it affects me directly is air travel,” said one NHS senior.  “I have to go through long security lines and sometimes intrusive scanning processes.”

As young adults in high school, we are part of Generation 9/12.  Although we did not experience the attacks, this does not limit the effects from the event that we see in our everyday lives, both positively and negatively.  This can include the increase in international or homeland security the U.S. has enforced such as travel bans and restricted flights to certain countries, which people may see as a positive or negative, as well as the exponential increase in xenophobia we see towards the Muslim religion and people, and just the Middle Eastern region as a whole.

“There was a huge rise in anti-Muslim rhetoric especially immediately after the attacks,” said a Naugatuck High School teacher that was alive to experience the events.  “Which, in my opinion, has remained constant even today.”

Overall, 9/11 is an event that will forever be remembered as a turning point in the U.S., and one of the deadliest attacks in American history.  Countless lives were taken and even more people were affected by the tragedy.  We will forever remember and memorialize the loved ones we lost.