September 11th – Twenty Five Years Later

Twenty Five Years

On one hand it feels like forever ago. On the other it seems like it was yesterday. Amanda and I were living in DC. My office was about five miles from the Pentagon. Seeing smoke rise out your office window is a sight I hope I never have to see again.

Watching it all play out in real time. This was BEFORE the social media world we know today. This was BEFORE the 24/7 news cycle where stories come and go in a blink of an eye. Time stood still as we watched in horror as we realized that our beloved country was under attack. That horror increased as we watched the buildings fall, planes crash and body counts increase.
Our country and the world came together after that day. We had a common enemy and we stood together to rebuild. Never to forget but to move forward as one. That version of America, the ‘together’ version, is gone. Dead and buried.

We need a bit of that SPIRIT not just today but as we move through the remainder of 2026 and beyond.

We… are… FRACTURED.

We’ve been reduced to tribes who argue about everything.

EVERYTHING seems to be a partisan issue and EVERYTHING seems to be worth fighting over. People don’t ‘talk’ and forget about having any sort of ‘civil’ discourse.
If 9/11 taught us anything it’s that there truly ARE things worth fighting for but there’s also a bunch of noise and the overwhelming majority of that noise is worthless.
I had high hopes at the beginning of the pandemic that we would come together. I couldn’t have been more wrong. It broke us further.
I pray that we take today, the 25th anniversary of the worst day of my lifetime, to not only remember how we felt that day, but to reflect on what’s really important.
I’ve said “Never Forget” more times than I can count… and every single time I’ve really thought about what it means. But simply saying “Never Forget” isn’t enough. You have to truly do it.

Really REMEMBER.

Remember where you were.
Remember what you were doing.
Remember who you were with.
Remember how you felt.

And then realize something. Whether you believe the official story of what happened that day, whether you love or hate our current administration… realize that the events of September 11th, 2001 changed your life. Forever.

Let’s roll.

I said this during our Council meeting on Tuesday… something I’m hoping we get back to.

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I MISS 9/12

I would never ever want another 9/11, but I miss the America of 9/12.
Stores ran out of flags to sell because they were being flown everywhere.
People were Americans before they were upper or lower class, Jewish or Christian, Republican or Democrat.
We hugged people without caring what restaurant they ate at or what shoes they wore.
ON 9/12, WHAT MATTERED MORE WAS WHAT UNITED US, THAN WHAT DIVIDED US.