I was just over a year old on September 11, 2001. Far too young to have any memories of my own of the date, but my parents told me their stories several times. I was with my mother visiting my grandparents in Pennsylvania and my father was away on a golf trip in Ireland. When news crossed the pond of the attack, my father frantically began calling the States from a clubhouse on a golf course in Ireland. It took hours before his call went through. My mother and I were, of course, fine and eventually made our way home to Chicago via rental car.
In contrast to the stories shared by my colleagues, my recollection of that terrible tragedy may seem mundane. It certainly was not the life-altering event for me that it was for them and many Americans. I do not mean to downplay the effects of this unprecedented attack; I know from others that America was completely changed as a result of September 11. I simply did not have a life prior to the attacks to alter. The Global War on Terror launched after the September 11 attack lasted the vast majority of my lifetime, long enough for me to see friends deployed to the wars started in our infancies.
I know from others that America was completely changed as a result of September 11. I simply did not have a life prior to the attacks to alter.
Like all good Americans I swore an oath to “never forget” 9/11, though I didn’t remember it in the first place. By the time I was old enough to understand what happened that day, the attack, its aftermath and the righteousness of the U.S. response cemented their places in American myth. As a child, I didn’t question the expenditure of lives or treasure in the Middle East during the war on terror. To me, the conflicts were a Tolkien-like struggle between absolute good (the United States) and absolute evil (terrorists). When Bin Laden was finally killed in 2011, I celebrated with the rest of the country. A great evil vanquished. Terrorism defeated. The victims of 9/11 avenged.
My teenage cynicism developed alongside the rest of the nation’s towards continued U.S. military adventures in the Middle East, which carried on despite Bin Laden’s death. When Donald Trump was the only member of the Republican primary debate stage to state clearly that Bush’s invasion of Iraq was a mistake, he won the hearts of many young conservatives like myself (my conservatism did not survive the first Trump administration) who attributed the erosion of personal liberties at home and spread of instability abroad to reckless U.S. interventionism. Of course, President Trump now finds himself drawn into a similar quagmire in Iran, continuing the line of American leaders who believe the cradle of civilization can be bombed to peace.
As we commemorate 25 years since the September 11 attack, the nation is invited to reflect on its legacy. I find myself grappling with the oft-repeated admonishment from my elders to “never forget.” What does it mean to remember an event I can’t recall? How do I properly mourn those lost? Perhaps most importantly now that I am an adult working in the national security space, what can I do to prevent a repetition of the same mistakes surrounding this tragedy and the U.S. response?
I find myself grappling with the oft-repeated admonishment from my elders to “never forget.” What does it mean to remember an event I can’t recall? How do I properly mourn those lost? Perhaps most importantly now that I am an adult working in the national security space, what can I do to prevent a repetition of the same mistakes surrounding this tragedy and the U.S. response?
I don’t have all the answers to these questions just yet. Perhaps after another 25 years I will be closer to them. One thing that is clear to me and many other Americans, though, is that something must change. The post-9/11 status quo of U.S. foreign policy has been repeatedly rejected by voters and failed to produce desirable results of peace and stability. Endless war drains the resources and spirit of a nation, leading to problems on the homefront. The current cost of living crisis certainly is fueled at least in part by America’s warmaking. My generation’s hopes for home ownership and comfortable family living dim with each new report on the ballooning deficit, pushed ever higher by trillion-dollar defense budgets.
The effects of the September 11 attack are still very present in U.S. national security policy, and although I do not remember it, I must contend with the world order it created. It is impossible to forget the tragedy or remove the psychological trauma it left on our country. But “never forget” does not mean “never recover.” A new generation is poised to take the reins of U.S. national security policy, one that was shaped by the post-9/11 world order. I hope that we possess the wisdom to use the lessons of the September 11 attacks to make Americans truly secure.
