Each Sept. 11, I spend hours watching video footage that drags me back in time to the unforgettable blue-sky morning when terrorists used civilian airliners to maim America and impale our nation’s sense of security.
Every year, I bear witness once again to the shuddering collapse of the south and north towers of the World Trade Center, view the charred wreckage at the Pentagon, and watch the remains of a fourth, thwarted hijacking smolder in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Reliving that haunting day is part of my promise to never forget the 2,983 victims of Sept. 11 and the generation of heroes who would go on to fight the wars which those attacks spurred.
This year, I must break my somber tradition because the bright and inquisitive three-year-old who copies my every move is at an important developmental crossroads. She is both old enough to be disturbed by the scenes of devastation and too young to comprehend their meaning logically.
As is characteristic of her age group, my daughter is in the habit of asking a host of questions about everything happening in her world. A full 19 years on, I simply cannot formulate child-friendly responses to queries like, “Why is that airplane hitting the building, Mommy? Why are those people falling from the sky?”
If she is lucky, it will be several years before my daughter learns how fragile the peace she enjoys can be. It is never too early, however, to give her an appreciation of the men and women who run to our aid when disaster comes calling. Rather than letting Patriot Day pass unobserved, this year my daughter will learn about the first responders who streamed toward scenes of utter devastation, inspiring not only our nation but the world with their bravery.
Our day will be filled with inspiring stories and pictures of the firemen, police officers, and emergency personnel who responded to the towers to help employees evacuate the burning buildings and of the off-duty firemen who hopped aboard police cars and city buses to reach the World Trade Center even before the New York City Fire Department made a full recall of its units.
I will show my daughter the firefighters who stirred hope in a wounded nation by raising the American flag at Ground Zero. We will watch volunteers, construction workers, and first responders use bucket brigades at Ground Zero’s unstable wreckage site in an effort to locate survivors. I will tell her that ordinary heroes donated 36,000 units of blood to assist survivors.
Of course, this version of events eliminates many important details. I will not explain that 23 New York City police officers, 37 Port Authority police officers, and 343 firefighters, including 60 who were off duty, perished in the collapse of the Twin Towers. My daughter need not understand that because only 20 survivors were located beneath the rubble at Ground Zero, just 258 units of donated blood would be used.
I will not burden her by explaining that firefighters who served at Ground Zero reported higher instances of anxiety, depression, and stress than those who did not, or that approximately 422,000 New Yorkers suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of Sept. 11.
We will not yet discuss the other lasting effects suffered by many of the 91,000 workers and volunteers who breathed in toxic fumes while cleaning up 1.8 million tons of debris at Ground Zero. Hundreds of first responders, including firefighters and police officers, have died from diseases caused by their exposure, and thousands more continue to experience serious health effects that render them especially vulnerable during the coronavirus pandemic.
I will also wait to explain to my daughter that eight of the victims of Sept. 11 were children. The youngest, Christine Lee Hanson, was two-and-a-half-years-old when she boarded United Flight 175, which was directed into the south tower of the World Trade Center by remorseless terrorists.
The facts above are painful and important, and when I first began preparing a new way of commemorating Patriot Day with my daughter, it felt like a great dishonor to shield her from them. With our domestic tumult continuing to percolate, however, I now wonder whether this anniversary calls for a view of Sept. 11 that focuses simply on those first responders who gave us hope during a time of darkness.
On this 19th anniversary, and knowing full well what might befall them, our first responders remain at the ready as our first line of defense from those who would do us harm on our own soil. For this and more, these brave men and women deserve our endless gratitude.
Beth Bailey (@BWBailey85) is a freelance writer from the Detroit area.
